The Colorado legislature has passed a bill, Senate # 09-013, that would provide some civil immunity for volunteer firefighters, and for fire departments that donate surplus fire equipment to other fire departments. The bill also includes protection for incident managment teams, both standing teams and “ad hoc” teams. An official copy of the bill is HERE. On May 19 the bill was sent to the governor who is expected to sign it at the Colorado Wildfire and Incident Management Academy in June.
The bill is named the “Marc Mullenix Volunteer Firefighter Protection Act”. Chief Mullenix was a wildland firefighter who in 2007 was a Type 1 Incident Commander trainee on Kim Martin’s Incident Management Team in the Rocky Mountain Geographic Area. Some of his past jobs included Wildland Fire Division Chief for the Boulder Fire Department, Fire Management Officer for Mesa Verde National Park, and Division Chief with the Fairmont Fire Protection District, all in Colorado. He passed away, a victim of suicide, on January 28, 2008, in Mancos, Colorado at the age of 50.
