Airport fire damage claims run the gamut — from millions for burned houses to $3 for M&Ms
The Airport fire, accidentally ignited by an Orange County work crew, has sparked about $400 million in liability claims from more than 100 people seeking an array of damages and reimbursement, down to one evacuee’s $3 purchase of peanut M&Ms at an Arco station.
Some of the claimants lost homes or personal belongings. Others sustained burns. Some were trapped by the flames. All were victims of a 23,526-acre fire that began Sept. 9 and burned for 26 days in Orange and Riverside counties after a public works crew used heavy machinery to move boulders in tinder-dry Trabuco Canyon.
The crew had failed to follow department “best practices” and bring a water truck for fire suppression. Some evacuees called that a “terrible error” or “a mistake with horrible consequences.”
