AUTHORITY TO ENTER PRIVATE LAND.

(a) Authority is hereby granted to every employee of the Texas Forest Service and any outside labor or assistance the employee deems necessary to enter upon any privately-owned land in the performance of fire suppression duties which are by state law under the direction of the director. These entries on privately-owned land may be made whenever it is necessary to investigate forest and grass fires and to ascertain whether they are burning uncontrolled, and whenever it is necessary to suppress forest and grass fires that are known to be burning uncontrolled.

(b) An individual providing labor or assistance to the Texas Forest Service under Subsection (a) is not liable for civil damages, including personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, death, or other loss resulting from any act, error, or omission by the individual in providing that labor or assistance unless the act, error, or omission:

(1) proximately caused the loss; and

(2) was performed with malice or constitutes gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.