Whenever any fireman of a city, county, city and county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or political subdivision is injured, dies or is disabled from performing his duties as a fireman by reason of his proceeding to or engaging in a fire suppression or rescue operation, or the protection or preservation of life or property, anywhere in this state, including the local jurisdiction in which he is employed, but is not at the time acting under the immediate direction of his employer, he or his dependents, as the case may be, shall be accorded by his employer all of the same benefits of the Workers’ Compensation Law, which he or they would have received had that fireman been acting under the immediate direction of his employer. Any injury, disability or death incurred under the circumstances described in this section shall be deemed to have arisen out of and been sustained in the course of employment for purposes of workers’ compensation and all other benefits.

(Amended by Stats. 1979, Ch. 373.)