Pennsylvania Fire Department Sued Over Massive Plant Fire
The owner of a large commercial structure in Union City, Pennsylvania that was destroyed by fire last December, has filed suit against a volunteer fire company and the Borough of Union City.
Carl Boone, owner of a 210,000 square foot building that formerly was a furniture manufacturing facility for Ethan Allen, claims that firefighters failed to do enough to extinguish the fire, and failed to use the building’s built in fire protection system (which I assume means the sprinkler system).
The fire was reported to have been started by workers using a torches, but the lawsuit alleges it was actually started by vandals using cutting equipment to steal scrap metal.
The suit was filed on October 21, 2011. GOErie.com reported that the complaint stated: “There was a predetermined decision by the Union City Fire Department that if the building ever caught on fire, Union City Fire Department would not attempt to extinguish the fire but would instead operate as a ‘controlled burn structure fire.'”
It is unclear if the suit was filed by Boone’s insurer as a subrogation action or by Boone himself. I am trying to get a copy of the complaint so stay tuned. More on the story.
I’d like to see the complaint on this one. Sounds like me that the department may have made a conscious decision that the risks posed by the structure far outweighed the benefits of an aggressive interior attack. Looking at the structure at the (corner of South Main and Jackson Street) on Bing Maps, it appears to cover a whole city block.
If we had a commercial building this big in my district we probably would pre-plan for a defense strategy if there was an advanced fire upon arrival. I could not fault any department, volunteer or career, for adopting the same strategy. In fact,
I think that there are plenty of examples of tragedies that show us that an aggressive interior attack may be inappropriate if there are not lives to be saved and the fire clearly requires more resources that are on hand to fight it.
Anthony
I think the plaintiff definitely has his work cut out for him just in terms of standard of care, not to mention immunity, public duty rule, and causation.
Looks like we came up empty on the complaint. Anyone live near the Erie County Courthouse that could take a run over and make a copy for us?