Arizona Fire Department Sued For Wrongful Death

The family of a woman who died in a fatal fire in Coolidge, Arizona, has filed suit against the city alleging the fire department was responsible for her death. Nicole Erin Gustafson died in a house fire on June 12, 2022.

The suit was filed in Pima County Superior Court by David Gustafson as Nicole’s personal representative and Linda Helmick, the owner of the building. It was filed pro se asserting that inexcusable delays in the department’s arrival along with negligent operations caused Nicole’s death and the destruction of the dwelling.

The Coolidge Fire Department is a combination fire department with career personnel working 8am to 8pm, and volunteers thereafter. The fire was first reported at around 03:40 hours. According to the NFIRS report, the department was dispatched at 03:52 with an on-scene time of 04:05.

The complaint alleges breach of contract, negligence, negligent hiring, negligent training, negligent retention, negligent supervision, gross negligence, and failure to follow city ordinances. The plaintiffs are seeking a total of $8.8 million in damages.

While the suit was originally filed in state court, and appears to only allege state law claims, the city has requested that it be removed to federal court. The stated grounds for removal is that the complaints includes allegations of constitutional rights violations pursuant 42 U.S.C. §1983. Nowhere in the complaint is a constitutional claim and/or 1983 clearly referenced. The closest I can see is language that alleges the city “made deliberate and conscious decisions to create inadequate policies and procedures.” The city’s removal notice did indicate they have been unable to communicate with the pro se plaintiffs.

Quoting from the original complaint:

• The injuries and damages suffered by Claimants, as well as their related medical expenses, if applicable, loss of consortium, loss of love and affection, and property damage Claimants, were caused in whole or in part by the actions and/or omissions of the City of Coolidge and/or CFD and their agents, employees and assigns involved in the delayed response to house fire located at 701 West Douglas Avenue Coolidge, Arizona 85128, and lack thereof which caused the death of decedent thereby causing severe injuries and damages to Claimants on June 12, 2022.
• The City of Coolidge and/or the CFD and their agents, employees or assigns failed to utilize reasonable care and conduct in responding to an emergency house fire. The City of Coolidge and/or the CPD and their agents, employees or assigns failed to follow proper protocol and procedures when responding to an emergency house fire which resulted in the death of Nicole Erin Gustafson, decedent and severe property damage.
• The City of Coolidge and/or the CFD and their agents, employees or assigns were not properly trained or failed to follow proper training in their attempt to respond in a timely matter after business hours thereby leading to the death of Ms. Gustafson and significant property damage.
• The City of Coolidge and/or the CFD and their agents, employees or assigns failed to take reasonable actions in the time, place, and manner they responded to the house fire of Nicole Erin Gustafson, decedent which led directly to the erratic, panicked, aggressive response that caused the otherwise avoidable injuries to Claimants, property damage and Nicole Erin Gustafson’s unfortunate death.
• The City of Coolidge and/or CFO, and each of them, were independently negligent in the hiring, training, retention, and/or supervision of their employees, which was a proximate cause of incident.
• Upon information and belief, The City of Coolidge and/or CFO did not follow proper protocol and standards in a measured way with regard to the actions of responding to an emergency house fire after normal business hours and thus caused the incident injuring the Claimants by failing to respond to the fire for over 40 minutes when the home was about 2 miles from the Coolidge fire station.
• At 3:40 am or earlier on 6/12/2022 the fire in question was reported to the Coolidge Police Department. The Coolidge Police Department immediately notified Defendant the Coolidge Fire Department. The Coolidge Fire Department claimed it was first notified at 3:51 a.m. Sunday, June 12, 2022, CFD receiving a call about a residence on fire at West Douglas Avenue and Seventh Street.
• After some time, (almost 1 hour) firefighters were able to knock the fire down enough to enter the residence, but by then they claimed it was too late to rescue the single occupant of the home who died as a result of the fire.
• Defendants made no attempt to revive or treat Nicole Gustafson.
• CFD has not implemented training in regard to the emergency responses to house fires, emergency response times during and after the hours of 8:00a.m. – 8:00 p.m. CFD knew or should have known that at times its firefighters could be away from the fire department and responding from their residences.
• CFD has either failed to implement policies and procedures, failed to train or failed to supervise its employees regarding the adequate emergency response times outside of business hours of what constitutes reasonableness emergency response times, to implement mandatory training; and more specifically, it either failed to train or inadequately train firefighters and/or volunteers regarding encounters with persons of a house fire and/or house fires before and after business hours, including but not limited to the appropriate use of fire equipment, adequate responses to pager notifications, staffing, crew size or otherwise, proper procedures for rapid response(s) and interactions with persons and properties engulfed in fire with persons inside.
• Notwithstanding this knowledge, CFD’s final policymakers, including its Chief of Fire, and therefore also City of Coolidge, made deliberate and conscious decisions to create inadequate policies and procedures, if any at all.
• The policies and customs/practices of the City of Coolidge and CFD directly and proximately caused claimants injuries and other damages.
• City of Coolidge and/or the CFD and their agents, employees or assigns failed to provide adequate accommodations at or near the fire station/fire department for emergency personnel to allow any and all firefighters and/or volunteers appropriate means to respond timely to any and all emergency calls before, during and/or after business hours.

Here is a copy of the complaint: