§185-4  Payment for firefighting.  (a) No federal or county agency summoned by the administrator or manager to assistin extinguishing a fire shall be reimbursed for expenses incurred in suchfirefighting unless specified by mutual aid agreement.

(b)  No owner, lessee, or occupier of any landsupon which a fire has occurred, nor any employee of such persons, nor anyperson who has any vested interest in and to the lands or that person'semployees shall be entitled to the compensation provided for in this chapter,for services and materials rendered in and upon the land in the extinguishmentof any fire; provided that the prohibition shall not apply to owners or personsholding interests to any lands which have been surrendered to the departmentunder agreement as a public forest reserve for a period of ten years or more oras a public hunting area for a period of five years or more or to any owner whosuffered a fire as a result of allowing use of the owner's land by the generalpublic without compensation.

(c)  All reimbursable expenses incurred incontrolling or extinguishing a fire by the administrator or a manager shall bepayable from the firefighter's contingency fund, provided the fire suppressionbudget is exceeded, and the owner, lessee, or agency having control over thelands has not been negligent in starting or failing to control or extinguish afire.  Any person, agency, or corporation summoned by the administrator or amanager to assist in extinguishing a fire eligible under this chapter to claimfor reimbursement for wages, equipment use, supplies, or materials must submitan itemized statement of such claims to the administrator through the managerwithin forty-five working days after the fire has been extinguished in order tohave it honored.

(d)  There shall be established under thecontrol of the department a firefighter's contingency fund into which shall bedeposited appropriations made by the legislature. [L 1953, c 100, §6; RL 1955,§19-54; am L 1957, c 98, §3; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §22; am L 1961, c 132, §1;HRS §185-4; am L 1974, c 64, pt of §1; am L 1978, c 93, §1; am L 1986, c 209,§1; am L 1993, c 161, §1; am L 1994, c 140, §5]

 

Note

 

Transfer ofcertain interest earnings to general fund until June 30, 2015. L 2009, c 79,§30(a)(8).