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41 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 233 (2014)
Calming the Fire: How a Negligence Standard and Broad Cost-Recovery Can Help Restore National Forests after Wildfires

handle is hein.journals/bcenv41 and id is 246 raw text is: CALMING THE FIRE: HOW A NEGLIGENCE STANDARD AND BROAD COST-RECOVERY CAN HELP RESTORE NATIONAL FORESTS AFTER WILDFIRES CHARLEs RIORDAN* Abstract: This Note provides an overview of the statutory and common law relating to forest fires, with a particular focus on fires started by power lines in National Forests. Fire is a constant threat to America's forests and is capable of doing enormous damage to critical ecological systems. Yet the legal ramifications of forest fires are often determined by state law, which leads to doctrinal inconsistency Recently, the U.S. Court of Ap- peals for the Ninth Circuit has joined California courts in allowing the federal government to bring broad damages claims against utility compa- nies responsible for forest fires. Other states, by contrast, limit the types of damages that the government can claim. The standard of liability for for- est fires can be similarly ambiguous. The best way forward, from an envi- ronmental perspective, is to condition recovery on a showing of negli- gence, while granting restoration costs in cases where culpability is clear. INTRODUCTION In September 2011, a forest fire in Bastrop County, Texas de- stroyed more than 1600 homes and burned more than 34,000 acres of land.' By some measures, it was the largest fire ever to strike Texas.2 Gusting winds and an ongoing drought exacerbated the fire, but the initial cause was mundane: a dead tree falling against a power line.3 The Bastrop Fire was not the first of its kind. Power lines are not the most common source of forest fires, but fires started by power lines * Executive Articles Editor, BOSTON COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRs LAW REVIEW, 2013-2014. 1 Ciara O'Rourke & Patrick George, What Caused the Bastrop Fire?, AuSTIN AM.- STATESMAN, Sept. 21, 2011, at A01. 2 SeeJordan Breal et al., Trial by Fire, TEX. MONTHLY, Dec. 2011, at 134, 134 (In terms of human habitation, it was the single most devastating wildfire in Texas history.). See Ricardo Gindara, Bastrop Victims Sue Utility, Claim Negligence, AuSTIN AM.- STATESMAN, Sept. 27, 2011, at A08. 233

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