§ 205-g. Defense and indemnification of volunteer firefighters. 1. As\nused in this section:\n a. "Volunteer firefighter" means an active member of a fire company.\n b. "Fire company" means: (i) A fire company of a city, town, village\nor fire district fire department, whether or not any such company has\nbeen incorporated under any general or special law,\n (ii) A fire corporation incorporated under or subject to the\nprovisions of article ten of the not-for-profit corporation law, which\nis not included within subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, if such\ncorporation is, by law, under the general control of, or recognized as a\nfire corporation by, the governing board of a city, town, village or\nfire district; or\n (iii) A fire corporation incorporated under, or established pursuant\nto the provision of, any general or special law, which is not included\nwithin subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of this paragraph, if such corporation\nis, by law, under the general control of, or recognized as a fire\ncorporation by, the governing board of a city, town, village or fire\ndistrict or Indian reservation. A "fire department" may be composed of\none or more fire companies.\n c. "Line of duty" means the performance by a volunteer firefighter of\nthe duties and activities described in subdivision one of section five\nof the volunteer firefighters' benefit law and the same such duties and\nactivities performed for a specialized team established pursuant to the\nprovisions of section two hundred nine-bb of this article for which the\nvolunteer firefighter does not receive any remuneration or a gratuity\nand shall be deemed to include any date of injury as determined by the\nworkers' compensation board pursuant to the provisions of section\nforty-one of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law. The following\nshall not be deemed to be remuneration or a gratuity: reimbursement of\nexpenses for meals, lodging and actual and necessary travel; the receipt\nof a mileage allowance in lieu of travel expense; reimbursement of\nexpenses for registration and tuition fees payable under section\nseventy-two-g of this chapter, the acceptance of transportation, food,\ndrink, shelter, clothing and similar items while on duty or engaged in\nsuch activities; and receipt of a training stipend as outlined in\nsection two hundred-aa of this article.\n d. "Public entity" means the city, town, village or fire district\nhaving general control of the fire company.\n 2. The public entity shall provide for the defense of the volunteer\nfirefighter in any civil action or proceeding, state or federal, arising\nout of any alleged act or omission which occurred or allegedly occurred\nwhile the volunteer firefighter was acting in the line of duty if the\nvolunteer firefighter is in compliance with the provisions of\nsubdivision seven of this section. This duty to provide for a defense\nshall not arise where such civil action or proceeding is brought by or\nat the behest of the public entity.\n 3. Subject to the conditions set forth in subdivision two of this\nsection, the volunteer firefighter shall be entitled to be represented\nby private counsel of his or her choice in any civil action or\nproceeding whenever the chief legal officer of the public entity or\nother counsel designated by the public entity determines that a conflict\nof interest exists, or whenever a court, upon appropriate motion or\notherwise by a special proceeding, determines that a conflict of\ninterest exists and that the volunteer firefighter is entitled to be\nrepresented by counsel of his or her choice, provided, however, that the\nchief legal officer or other counsel designated by the public entity may\nrequire, as a condition to payment of the fees and expenses of such\nrepresentation, that appropriate groups of such volunteer firefighters\nbe represented by the same counsel. Reasonable attorneys' fees and\nlitigation expenses shall be paid by the public entity to such private\ncounsel from
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