Fire from neighbor's land

[marhar]

Got a phone call this morning that the neighbor next to my property let his fire get away and burned about 15 acres of my property and one structure. The house trailer was unocupied but was used for storage. Not sure should I contact a lawyer, the DA or work out something with the neighbor. I don't live on the property but my children do and there is a no burn order for the whole state.

Start by talking to your neighbor; you will then know if his insurance will cover you or if will pay for your damages. If the conversation turns negative then speak with a lawyer. Good Luck

 

[BladesNBarrels]

Similar situation here a few years ago. Twice, no less.

Neighbor (we're on very good terms) was burning some brush on a nice, calm day, the wind picked up and the fire got "interesting". He tried to put it out with his tractor (obligatory TBN content), and ran over a railroad spike left there by previous (dirtball) owner, immobilizing the tractor. He was able to get the tractor out of harm's way, and the FD showed up, put the fire out, and gave him a stern warning.

A few years later, he's got a friend's camper parked next to his fifth wheel and storage shed and out of the clear blue sky, no rain, it gets hit by lightning.

Kaboom!!! - The propane bottles blow up, the camper is in flames, the truck's gas tank goes up, looks like some kind of a grade B disaster movie.

He's not home . . . but his 81 y.o. mother is out there fighting the roaring flames with a garden hose . . . and realizes pretty quickly that this is a losing proposition, and she calls the FD.

Meantime, I'm sitting in my house and I'm hearing this noise, kind of like a railroad train, but from the wrong direction. Go outside and look, nothing north, east, west . . . but oh **** look south! Great big billows of smoke, sparks, and its coming THIS WAY!

FD shows up, hoses down everything to little avail, the flames from burning brush are higher than the roof on my hangar (17 feet) and we have no fewer than a dozen fire engines parked on our front lawn. (I have a screen grab from one of the news helicopters showing the flames very near the hangar.) We have fire equipment and personnel from as far as 20 miles away.

They've got the area surrounding my house and hangar well hosed down, and one of the fire marshals tells me that I don't look particularly worried. I told him yes, I am concerned, but no, I am not terribly worried because steel (hangar and roof of the house) and concrete (walls of the house) don't burn. He said he was glad that somebody got that word. We also have a "defensible space" fire margin around our structures - about 15 to 20 feet of nothing that will burn.

They also cut some fire lanes on some neighboring properties, and the fire extended almost half a mile and did manage to burn down a small part of another neighbor's wooden fence.

All in all, the damages were the camper, some miscellaneous "stuff" in his storage shed, a bunch of brush and trees (which needed to be cleared out anyway), and the neighbor's brave mother got her eyebrows slightly singed (I think that was when she decided to yell for help.)

I knew the neighbor was out of town and where, and I called him and told him to get on his horse and come home RIGHT NOW because there is a fire, your mom is fine, but but move it! He did - I had no idea he owned a supersonic pickup truck.

Took about a week for the smell to go away. neighbor and I are still on very good terms, the lightning wasn't his fault.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

Great narrative and writing.
Thank you for posting!

 

[RVGuy]

Both he and you should have liability insurance to cover this kind of thing. I would ask him to get in touch with his insurance to open a claim. Also, your insurance company should be willing to work with you to get your neighbor to compensate you for your losses. If there was a burn ban in place, then the local or state fire authorities will be involved. I assume that some local firefighting unit was called out to put out the fire. They will have a case report that you should request a copy of. That will help with both legal and civil claims.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I have mixed views on this. There's always a risk in providing a utility to a consumer. I think in the case of the California lawsuits, the utility was between a rock and a hard place. Maintenance was required, but access and methods allowed for maintenance were restricted. Add to that, severe drought and excessive winds. I'm sure there would have been just as many lawsuits if the utility shut off power for weeks/months until the drought/wind danger passed.

Like most legislation, I think the devil is in the details of how this bill is written. Yes, the utilities should be expected to maintain their equipment for normally expected conditions. But also yes, they should be given some degree of protection for "force majeure".

Add to the limited access, and maintenance type limitations the California State Board which controls utility rates had denied multiple rates increase requests for funding to do the needed line maintenance.

 

[charlessenf]

It seems like you shouldn't even need to to talk to the DA, they should do their job for something this blatant.

"they should do their job"
The district attorney is concerned with the violation of the (Burn Ban) law. The damages sustained to private property are a civil matter. If it goes to court or arbitration, the fact that there was a BURN BAN in effect would go to the neighbors culpability - a matter for civil action.

First you must DOCUMENT the damages in detail. If you negotiate based on "about a thousand dollars" and later discover and want to add five hundred for this or for that, you may be out of luck or have some difficulty changing the damages number upwardly!

 

[logcabin]

Got a phone call this morning that the neighbor next to my property let his fire get away and burned about 15 acres of my property and one structure. The house trailer was unocupied but was used for storage. Not sure should I contact a lawyer, the DA or work out something with the neighbor. I don't live on the property but my children do and there is a no burn order for the whole state.

That could get nasty. My 2 cents, did the neighbor call you or someone else? Personally I would wait a bit and see what the neighbor says. That is huge I would think. If he comes in good faith hopefully something can be worked out. If you were called by someone else and you have heard nothing from the neighbor, that says or could say a lot. Here is something to think about. In Vermont, say someone has a hedge row., It is a Cedar hedge and grows over the fence line or imaginary boundary line and the landowner gets pissed off and says, " those branches are on my land I am cutting them" He has no right to let it grow on my land!. My father inlaw cut them them! In Vermont Court he was liable for 3 times the value per tree. Along with lawyer fees, court costs and the amount sued for. I would not have a clue as to how they would value your trees. Local mill pricing maybe?? In New Hampshire it is not the case. He could have cut to the fence or line and said , screw you. The point being, check the law where you are. I know what we went through years ago. This neighbor was a total ASS the day he was born. He retired from a big insurance company, all kinds of gratuities given to him. A week later he sued this company, not sure for what. But he WON! Come to find out he had several law suits in the past and won every damn one of them. When it comes to the almight $$$$ it changes some people! Be careful even though it is nothing you did, or was a part of. Not saying your neighbor is like this guy, but be aware. I would be curious to know how this ends up. I do wish you all the best!!

 

[John_Mc]

Technically, if you know he broke the law you are required to report it.

Actually, in most states that is not true, though there are exceptions. (I believe in Ohio you are required to report a felony. I think Texas also has a requirement to report higher crimes.)

 

[macdoesit]

Your neighbor might have insurance. talk to him.

 

[paulsharvey]

I'm confused by some of the "talk to the neighbor" and "ask how he's going to make it right" talk. Why, he would be a fool to admit anything, this is an insurance issue, and your insurance might choose to sue him, that's between those parties.

Rule 1, from his point of view, "prove it". I can't imagine he's going to offer to help at all, that's just admitting guilt.

 

[dodge man]

In some states there is treble damages for logging over the line, Illinois is that way. So a $300 tree becomes $900. I don’t know if that goes for negligent fire damage or not.