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WHEREAS, Pine Township is a municipal corporation and Township of the Second Class, duly organized and lawfully existing under the Second-Class Township Code (52 P.S. 565 101 et. Seq.), as amended, and the General Municipal Laws (53 P.S. 51 et seq.), as amended of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, located in Indiana County (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “the Township”); and,

WHEREAS, Pine Township has designated the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “the Company”) to be the formally approved and officially designated fire company servicing the residents of the Pine Township as well as those persons who are traveling through the Pine Township; and

WHEREAS, from time to time, certain automobile accidents, hazardous material incidents, environmental incidents, and other incidents occur on the roads, streets, highways and by ways in the Township; and

WHEREAS, many of those automobile accidents, hazardous material incidents, environmental incidents, and other incidents involve one or more persons who are not residents of Pine Township or taxpayers within the Township, those persons nevertheless benefit from the availability and preparedness of the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company through those persons have not contributed to the creation, support or maintenance of the Company, and

WHEREAS, the Township recognizes the necessity and desire of maintaining financial stability in the Pine Township Volunteer Fire company; and

WHEREAS, the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company is equipped to utilize certain emergency rescue tools and emergency equipment as a means of saving lives, saving property and protecting citizens within the Township; and

WHEREAS, the purchase of emergency tools, emergency equipment and the cost of maintaining current technology for the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company is deemed necessary; an

WHEREAS, the Pine Township Volunteer fire company has requested the Township of Pine to enact legislation enabling the Fire Company to recover costs, expenses and fees for various services provided, so that the Pine Township Volunteer fire company will be able to purchase and replace emergency tools, supplies, equipment and maintain technology in providing services to the community; and

WHEREAS, insurance coverage is available in many instances to recover the reasonable costs and expenses incurred by the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company and/or mutual aid; and

NOW THEREFORE, it is hereby ordained and enacted by the Board of supervisors of Pine Township as follows:

The Pine Township Volunteer Fire Company is hereby authorized and directed, by and through its officers and authorized representatives, to ascertain what insurance coverages may be applicable and available under any given carriers where a property owner and or vehicle owner/operator is or may be insured to reimburse the Fire Company for any cost and/or expense incurred for services, supplies and/or equipment used for or provided to the property owner and/or the vehicle owner; operator by the by the Fire Company.

Under no circumstances shall any property owner ever receive a bill from the Pine Township Volunteer Fire company for fire protection or other services provide by the Fire Company except in cases of false alarms and fires intentionally set by the property owner.

This Ordinance shall be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose to compensate and/or reimburse the Pine Township Fire Company from insurance proceeds only costs and/or expenses incurred while providing service pursuant to their duties for the Fire Company.

All ordinances or parts of ordinances which are inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

If any sentence, clause, section or part of the Ordinance is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such unconstitutionality; illegality or invalidity shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions sentences, clauses, section or other parts of the Ordinance is herby declared to be the intent of the Pine Township Supervisors that this Ordinance would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause, section or part thereof not been included herein.

This Ordinance shall become effective five days of the date of enactment.

ORDAINED AND ENACTED into law by the Board of Supervisors of Pine Township, Indiana County; Pennsylvania at its regularly convened meeting held on the 5th day of July, 2019.