N.Y. Power Plant Seeking $250K Damages from Fire Companies

[Monty 35]

http://www.firehouse.com/news/11694709/hydropower-plant-seeing-250k-from-fire-companies-for-damage

Sept. 19--A Greenwich hydropower plant is seeking up to $250,000 from the fire companies that fought a fire at an old paper mill nearby because of alleged damage they caused to the power plant.

The claim alleges that firefighters "intentionally, willfully and recklessly" caused water to flow into the power plant's "powerhouse," causing damage that took the plant offline. It seeks restitution for repairs for damaged electronic, mechanical and computer equipment and lost revenue.

The power plant's manager had asked fire personnel to avoid discharging water toward the plant as the fire was being fought, according to the claim.

Among those named are the Middle Falls Fire Department, in whose fire district the county Route 53 mill sits, and the towns of Easton and Greenwich and village of Greenwich. All of the fire departments that responded as mutual aid, and the municipalities where they are located, were also named.

Seems like this is a case of throwing everything against the wall to see if it sticks. My guess is that they think they'll get a settlement from some of the parties involved. I hope they don't. It will be interesting to see how it plays out though. Isn't this what you pay insurance for? And as for mutual aid in NY - I thought all the liability was with the home department (unless maybe gross negligence).

[amr6334 16]

Doesnt surprise me at all........Everyones out to make a buck

[SteveC7010 58]

http://www.firehouse.com/news/11694709/hydropower-plant-seeing-250k-from-fire-companies-for-damage

Seems like this is a case of throwing everything against the wall to see if it sticks. My guess is that they think they'll get a settlement from some of the parties involved. I hope they don't. It will be interesting to see how it plays out though. Isn't this what you pay insurance for? And as for mutual aid in NY - I thought all the liability was with the home department (unless maybe gross negligence).

I'm more interested to hear the real facts of the case. There is too much that is not said in the article and a whole bunch of open-ended statements and unanswered questions.

• Did the plant manager approach the command post or just some FF on a hose somewhere? Was the IC ever notified of the request?
• What do they mean by "discharge"? That's a very vague word in this context. Were the firefighters intentionally discharging excess pump or tank water without regard to where it was going, or (more likely) was this surface runoff from legit hose streams?
• I'd like to know a lot more about the terrain between the paper mill and the power plant. If we're talking surface water runoff from the firefighting, would that not be the same as or very similar to a heavy rainfall or snow melt? If so, then why isn't the power plant better protected from surface runoff?

I think there are a bunch of other reasonable questions that need to be answered here. While we in public safety all tend to jump to each others' defense in matters like this (and most of the time, rightfully so), there's just not enough information here to draw any meaningful conclusions.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Doesnt surprise me at all........Everyones out to make a buck

But on the other side of the coin, a lot of fire departments hide behind: "we are the FD and we can do no wrong, and if we do we are protected from litigation"

[TFD141@aol.com 26]

Even if the FD did something wrong, which is not clear either way here, there has to be a special duty to an individual or corporation in order to gain any settlement. In essence, FD are immune from such claims unless a special duty was agreed too in advance. This will be dismissed unless the FD promised to not allow water to flow towards the plant, which I doubt anyone would or could promise.