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My town needs help.
We had a single story house burn well over a year ago. It was abondon at the time it burnt. Now the property is on tax sale and we doubt if anyone will buy it even if someone does it will be a year before they can take it over.
The problem is children are going in and out of it all time. The town has little or no money to clean it up. I had them contact EMA thought they could help. They told the town to have my fire department burn it the rest of the way up. The head of the EMA is a paid firefighter he has to know we can't do that. Air pollution laws,two houses and a garage within a few few make impossible. I have contacted the fire marshel and he said have the town contact the health department. So thats my next step, Does anyone know of anything else we can do before a child is hurt?
The first picture is just after we were paged. The other two are for reference and were taken a day or so ago. Any help could save a child.
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back street fire.bmp, 802 KB -
10-28-2010 004.jpg, 435 KB -
10-28-2010 005.jpg, 535 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by M.J. 6821 on
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Is this house in town or in the country?
If its town the city can condemn and order it to be demolished at owners cost, if the owner does not do it the city can do it and put it on the property tax roll, same applies to the county. And if the owner does not pay the property tax the city can take ownership of the property after so long and make it into a usable lot for something else. If there is a basement under the old house it can get quite expensive.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Armstrong on
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Obviously rules are different there from here cause if a property is up for tax sale that means that the town would aleady own it and it is there call on what goes on with it. Here if it were an issue the owner would apply to the fire department to issue a burn permit.For a house we need them to knock it over into the basement but the shingles need to be removed to minimize environmental damage and then it can be burnt.If everyone has an issue with this then you should be able to get enough people together to get the problem fixed with minimal cost.A tractor with a bucket a backhoe could knock the rest down quick. If the community is up in arms over it then tell them to get off their butts and do something about it instead of bitchin about it.
If all else fails it burnt once with nobody there what's one more suspicious fire there and just take your time responding and when you get there just protect the exposures cause the owner did not pay the fire tax so you just protect the neighbours who did!!!! LOL
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And also since when do you automatically blame the parents for kids going into abandoned houses or for that fact getting into any other unsafe areas or situations.Kids are kids and always will be kids and if they see something thats looks cool they will go check it out and not think about safety issues.What kid thinks about safety all the time.?
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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on
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can someone put up a fence around the property in the meantime? construction fence? maybe someone would donate one to use until such time as the project can be addressed under the "help with safety" request
the police can also write trespassing tickets to people who are playing in the buildling... a few of those and the kids will stop... or their parents will stop them...
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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on
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You bet, I know I always listened and obeyed every word my parents told me.
Sure, it's the parents' responsibility, but they need to get after their kids assuming they know it's their kids trespassing.
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Permalink Reply by Roger Neal on
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Lots of interesting comments, but tread carefully. You and the Fire Department could assume some real liability if you do the wrong thing, such as damaging/destroying the building. It is obvious that your intentions of protecting kids is honorable, and you are just trying to do the right thing, but there are legal ramifications. Now that you have posted your question, there are also potential legal ramifications if you now just walk away and do nothing.
1. Someone, the bank, or the city ownes the structure. You need to determine who is the LEGAL owner, before attempting some of the suggestions such as burning the rest of it for training, or demolishing the structure. The FD has no legal right to destroy or damage someone else's property.
2. Notify in writing the legal owner, of the concerns. Certified mail with receipt requested is best.
3. If the town now ownes the property, the town's insurance carrier needs to be notified. Based on what you have described, this property is what is legally known as an "attractive nuisance."
4. Since it sounds like you live in a very small town, how about working with the school to educate the kids about not going near the building?
5. If the town doesn't have an inspector or building official, then check with the County. There is at some level a government official who is responsible for building safety.
Good Luck. I'm not an attorney, but have been involved for many years in Fire Department risk management.
Roger Neal
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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So board the place up and put up a temporary fence around it. Then arrest anyone (child or adult) found tresspassing there. At the same time, pursue legal action against the owner, or if there is no owner, condemn the property and demolish it in the interest of public safety.
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