Feds Avoid Suit Over Property Burned by Team Fighting Wildfire

The federal government can avoid a lawsuit seeking $5 million in damages by a property owner who said fire crews failed to prevent more land from being burned during a 2015 wildfire in Washington, the Ninth Circuit affirmed Friday.

Communications between the property owners and the fire crew were discretionary, the court said. As a result, the federal government was immune from the Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Alfredo Esquivel and Donald Willard sued after 15 acres of their ranch were intentionally burned by crews fighting the North Star ...