When Firefighters arrive on a scene to fight a fire
or otherwise respond to an emergency situation, it
sometimes becomes necessary for the firefighters to
damage property belonging to more than one property
owner. It is sometimes necessary to damage property
that is in immediate risk of danger and sometimes
also necessary to damage property that is nearby.
In some instances, property owners have sought to
hold the government responsible for damage that has
been incurred as a result of actions by firefighters.
Strickland v. Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services 31 Fla. L. Weekly D 541 (5th DCA, 2006) is
a case where Mr. Strickland had sued the State
seeking damages that were caused to his property
while firefighters were attempting to extinguish one
of many fires burning out of control in Central
Florida during 1998. Mr. Strickland objected to
claims from the State that it was immune from
liability for claims relating to its firefighting
activities. Alternatively, Mr. Strickland claimed
that he should be compensated because his property
was “taken” for a state purpose and he was not
compensated as required by the United States and
Florida Constitutions.
The appellate court held that the trial court was
correct in dismissing Mr. Strickland’s claims and
reiterated a Supreme Court of Florida decision that
held that a city would not be liable for the
negligent decisions of its firefighters since the
court would not allow itself to be put in a position
of second guessing firefighters who make decisions
concerning how to best combat a fire. The appellate
court likewise disagreed with Mr. Strickland that
his property was being taken without proper
compensation. Even though the firefighters damaged
trees, fencing and a dike on his property by
creating a fire line on his property to prevent
spread of the fire, the court held that the
government’s destruction of private property to
prevent the spreading of a fire is not a taking in
the constitutional sense. To prevent the spreading
of a fire, the government may properly destroy
property without compensation to the owner.
In the community association context, if the
property of one homeowner or another is damaged as a
result of the efforts of firefighters to control a
fire either on the common properties or on the
property of another lot owner, the State would not
be responsible to those property owners for the
damage incurred.
