As used in this act the following terms shall mean and include:
1."Agency." An office, department, division, bureau, board or commission of the state or of a political subdivision thereof, including volunteer agencies.2."Attack." Any attack, actual or imminent, or series of attacks by an enemy or a foreign nation upon the United States causing, or which may cause, substantial damage or injury to civilian property or persons in the United States in any manner by sabotage or by the use of bombs, shellfire, or nuclear, radiological, chemical, bacteriological, or biological means or other weapons or processes.3."City director." The director of civil defense heading a city office.4."City office." A city office of civil defense or a consolidated city office of civil defense.5."Civil defense." All those activities and measures designed or undertaken (l) to minimize the effects upon the civilian population caused or which would be caused by an attack, (2) to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by any such attack, and (3) to effectuate emergency repairs to, or the emergency restoration of, vital utilities and facilities destroyed or damaged by any such attack. Such term shall include, but shall not be limited to, (A) measures to be taken in preparation for anticipated attack (including the establishment of appropriate organizations, operational plans, and the supporting agreements; the recruitment and training of personnel; the conduct of research; the procurement and stockpiling of materials necessary to the survival, recovery and rehabilitation of the state and of its inhabitants; the provision of suitable warning systems; the construction or preparation of shelters and control centers; provisions for the continuity of state and local governments; and, when appropriate, the non-military evacuation of civil population); (B) measures to be taken during attack (including the enforcement of passive defense regulations prescribed by duly established military or civil authorities; the movement of personnel to shelters; the control of traffic and panic; and the control and use of lighting and civil communications); and (C) measures to be taken following attack (including but not limited to activities for fire fighting; rescue, emergency medical, health and sanitation services; monitoring for radiation and other specific hazards of special weapons; decontamination procedures; unexploded bomb reconnaissance; essential debris clearance; emergency welfare measures; immediately essential emergency repair or restoration of damaged vital facilities; the implementation of the means and methods for the recovery and rehabilitation of the state; effective utilization of all persons and materials; care and shelter for those made homeless; distribution of stockpiled food, water, medical supplies, machinery and other equipment; the preservation of raw materials; the restoration of essential community services, industrial and manufacturing capacity, and commercial and financial activities in the state; and the resumption of educational programs).6."Civil defense forces." Agencies, public officers, employees, and enrolled civil defense volunteers, all having duties and responsibilities under or pursuant to this act in connection with civil defense.
7."Commission." The state civil defense commission created by article three of this act.8."Communication facility" or "communication device" shall not mean or include a newspaper.9."Council." The New York state defense council created by article two of this act.10."County director." The director of civil defense heading a county office.11."County office." A county office of civil defense or a consolidated county office of civil defense.12."Defense effort." The preparation of the United States and other nations cooperating with it for defense against attack and for the conduct of war.13."Defense emergency." The period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending upon the termination of the national emergency as proclaimed by the president of the United States on December sixteenth, nineteen hundred fifty.14."Drill." Any duly authorized activity of the state civil defense commission or a local office of civil defense, or subdivision, service or unit thereof, with or without the participation of the general public, held in training or preparation for enemy attack or for rehabilitation and recovery procedures following an attack. Drill is synonymous with authorized test, training, or training or practice exercise. Drill includes assistance by civil defense forces in combating natural or peacetime disasters upon the direction of a public officer authorized by law to call upon a civil defense director for assistance in protecting human life or property.15."Facilities." Buildings, shelters, utilities, and land.16."Fallout shelter." A building, structure or other real property, or an area or portion thereof, so constructed, altered or improved as to provide protection against harmful radiation resulting from radioactive fallout in accordance with the plan, regulations or orders of the commission pertaining thereto, including such plumbing, heating, electrical, ventilating, conditioning, filtrating and refrigerating equipment and other mechanical additions or installations, if any, as may be an integral part thereof.17."Law." A general or special statute, law, city or village charter, local law, ordinance, resolution, rule, regulation, order or rule of common law.18."Local director." A county director or a city director.19."Local office." A county office or a city office.20."Materials." Raw materials, food, water, supplies, medicines, machinery, equipment, component parts and technical information and processes necessary for civil defense.21."Municipal agency." An agency of a political subdivision responsible for police, fire, sanitation, public works, street, sewer, water, health, emergency or other services involving duties and responsibilities in connection with civil defense.22."Political subdivision." A county, town, city, village, school district or other district, district corporation or public benefit corporation.23."Shelter." A building, structure or other real property, or an area or portion thereof, which is to be used for the protection of persons during or after an attack, including such services, utilities and equipment, if any, as may be an integral part thereof.24."State director." The New York state director of civil defense.25."Volunteer agencies." Agencies sponsored or authorized by the commission or local offices of civil defense the personnel of which are in major part selected from among volunteer persons serving without compensation and may include wardens, shelter captains, warning services, auxiliary police, auxiliary firemen, bomb squads, radiological units and personnel, rescue squads, emergency medical units and other medical forces, nurses' aides, repair crews, monitoring and decontamination squads, demolition crews and all other similar forces and services having duties and responsibilities in connection with civil defense.N.Y. Defense Emergency Act 1951 Law § 3