(a) As used in this section:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 58-2-126

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Agency: means the Tennessee emergency management agency (TEMA). See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Disaster: means any natural, technological, or civil emergency that causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to result in a declaration of a state emergency by a county, the governor, or the president of the United States. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • Emergency: means an occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population, or substantial damage to or loss of property. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • Emergency management: means the preparation for, the mitigation of, the response to, and the recovery from emergencies and disasters. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • Local emergency management agency: means an organization created in accordance with this chapter to discharge the emergency management responsibilities and functions of a political subdivision. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • Political subdivision: means any municipality or county, including any county having metropolitan form of government, created pursuant to law. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) “First responders from local emergency management agencies” means emergency management agency personnel, including but not limited to, emergency managers who, as first responders:

(A) Go directly to the scene of an emergency; or
(B) Provide direct logistical support during the emergency and may go to and from a disaster or emergency area; and
(2) “Local emergency management agency” means an organization created in accordance with this chapter to discharge the emergency management responsibilities and functions of a political subdivision.
(b) All local emergency management agency personnel are considered first responders from local emergency management agencies with all the rights, benefits, privileges, and protections available to them pursuant to state and local laws.
(c) The estate of any first responder from a local emergency management agency who is killed in the line of duty is entitled to receive the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), with payment to be made from the general fund after receipt by the department of finance and administration of a certified death certificate and an affidavit from the decedent‘s employer that the decedent was killed in the line of duty.
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