The attorney for Yarnell residents who lost their home in the 2013 blaze asked the Court of Appeals this morning to let his clients sue the state.
The fire that started with a lightning strike on state land destroyed more than 120 homes and resulted in the deaths of 19 firefighters. Homeowners sued the state Forestry Division, which had taken control of trying to contain the blaze. A trial judge threw out the case concluding the state, in fighting the fire on public lands, had no duty to specifically protect Yarnell residents and their property.
At a hearing Wednesday morning, attorney Brock Heathcotte said the state cannot protect everyone who chooses to live adjacent to the wilderness.
"But the risk can be spread to the people who choose to live in the urban-wilderness interface," said Heathcotte. "They have the ability to form fire districts to protect their homes. The have the ability to insure their homes. They certainly have the ability to fireproof their homes."
But attorney David Abney said the state voluntarily agreed to try to protect Yarnell. He told the judges the homeowners were entitled to rely on that — and that the state would do its job competently.
"If they had know that the state, all this flurry of activity by the state, was simply just nonsense, Keystone Cops instead of actual acts to protect them, they would have cleared out of there and, I'm sure, some of them would have stayed and fought to the end to protect their property," Abney said.
Abney wants the appellate court to give his clients a chance to make their case to a jury. The judges gave no indication when they will rule.