Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone

Contributing Fire Law Author

Arizona Not Liable to Homeowners for Property Lost in the Yarnell Fire

People in the wildland fire community will be familiar with the Yarnell Hill Fire of 2013. This fire occurred in 2013 and led to the death of 19 firefighters, all members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots team. Only one member of the team survived. Apart from this tragedy a number of homes were lost to the fire and homeowners sued the Arizona State Forestry Division (ASFD) claiming that the division ‘negligently failed to protect them from harm that resulted from the Fire’.

Supreme Court to Hear Pregnancy Discrimination Case

On December 3, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that will hopefully settle uncertainty about whether employers must provide the same (or even more favorable) benefits to pregnant employees as they do for non-pregnant employees who have similar work limitations related to non-line-of-duty injuries or illnesses. While there have been multiple cases of fire departments facing repercussions for failing to treat pregnancy the same as non-line-of-duty injuries, there has been some disagreement among the lower courts about what the law actually requires.

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.

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