Waldy v. Preston Mill Co.

Citations

• 80 Wash. 25
• 141 P. 192
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1259

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Fires—Liability—Failure to Secure Permit—Statutes—Application. 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, § 5277-8, providing that no one shall burn any forest material within any county in which there is a fire warden or ranger, during specified months, without first having obtained a written permission from the warden or ranger, has no application where the fire warden sent rangers to personally superintend the burning and take charge thereof; hence the setting of a fire, pursuant to the directions of rangers in charge of the burn, does not render the party liable as for a fire set without the written permit, as provided by the statute requiring permits, it not being customary to issue permits in such cases.</p> <p>Negligence—Fires—Liability. Where forest rangers in charge of a burn arranged for the starting of a fire by defendant upon a given signal, and defendant mistook or misunderstood the signal and started a fire too soon, thereby destroying plaintiff’s property, the defendant is not liable unless it failed to act as a reasonably prudent person would have acted in the exercise of reasonable care in starting the fire.</p>