Orange County has filed a court motion to dismiss Cal Fire’s claim that it is owed $32 million to cover the costs associated with fighting the 2024 Airport fire.
The state agency’s complaint is “fatally defective” because the specific state laws that allow for the reimbursement of firefighting costs do not apply to the county, the motion, called a demurrer, filed Jan. 12 says.
The county’s attorneys argue the state’s Health and Safety Code “provides the sole mechanism” for a public agency to recover fire suppression costs in the event that a “person … negligently, or in violation of the law, sets a fire, allows a fire to be set.” But state law has established that public entities — including local governments — do not qualify as “persons,” they said.
“The county is not a ‘person’ within the meaning of this statutory scheme, and therefore Cal Fire’s claim against the county fails as a matter of law,” the filing said. “Further, the complaint does not allege affirmative fire-starting actions by the county, only accidental sparks from a front loader that is not designed to create or start a fire.”
Cal Fire filed the complaint in Orange County Superior Court against the county and two Public Works employees on Sept. 3 to recover costs related to “fire suppression, investigation, report-making, administrative, accounting and collection,” as well as legal fees.
The complaint alleges the blaze ignited when the two workers from the Public Works Department were moving boulders in Trabuco Canyon. Despite wind gusts, dry vegetation and extreme heat, the employees failed to use adequate fire suppression equipment or “properly clear flammable materials” in the vicinity of their work area, according to the court document.
“At all relevant times, the county failed to take reasonable precautions necessary to prevent the starting and spreading of fire,” the state agency said in its complaint.
The county said in its filing this week that, unlike a corporation, a local government is “not vicariously liable for the alleged actions of its employees.”
The Airport fire erupted Sept. 9, 2024, in Trabuco Canyon and, over 26 days, razed more than 160 structures and 23,000 acres across Orange and Riverside counties. Twenty-two people — two civilians and 20 firefighters — were injured and thousands were forced to evacuate.
Orange County has appropriated nearly $500 million to cover possible payouts to victims of the fire, and as of August had paid more than $39 million in settlements so far. Thousands of claim forms have been submitted, though some are duplicates or from multiple people of the same household, so it has been unclear how many final claims there will be.
The hearing on the demurrer motion is scheduled for June 11.