Tag Archives: liability

Area of Liability Concern for Fire Departments: Assisting Police

Tonight I was going through the most recent court decisions available through my Lexis subscription, and after the fourth one realized there were striking similarities that go beyond the fact a fire department was mentioned in each. Each case was a lawsuit brought by someone who had been arrested by the police.

Read More »

Fire Law Survey Results

Thank you to all who took the time to respond to our initial Fire Law Survey. The following results are preliminary, based on just over 400 responses. I will leave the survey open for another few days, and update the results.

Read More »

Rope Rescue, NFPA Compliance and Liability

Today’s burning question: Are there any cases where a fire department has been held liable because personnel used rope rescue hardware that was appropriate for the task, but did not meet NFPA 1983? Answer: Great question - I have not seen a single case where a fire department was sued (let alone held liable) because they used non-NFPA compliant tech rescue hardware. However, safety concerns should not be driven solely by liability concerns.

Read More »

Kentucky Case Upholds Immunity for Fire Departments

When it comes to the liability of fire departments, suits for negligent firefighting concern fire chiefs and firefighters the most. Making life and death decisions in a time compressed, high-stress environment with incomplete situational awareness seems like a recipe for poor decisionmaking. These circumstances that make ...

Read More »