Home owner sues city following 2016 fire
A local man is suing the City of Whitehorse,
A local man is suing the City of Whitehorse, claiming economic losses after a fire gutted his mobile home last summer.
Tynan Aubichon has launched the suit in the Supreme Court of Yukon. He claims the damage was due in part to the city breaching its duties, which amounted to gross negligence.
The suit claims general and special damages as well as interest and costs.
According to the statement of claim, at around 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2016, the Whitehorse Fire Department responded to a small electrical fire at the home in the Takhini Mobile Park.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes of the blaze being reported, with two pump trucks.
The suit claims the firefighters exhausted the water supply in one of the trucks and did not connect to the second truck.
They then connected one of the trucks to the surrounding fire hydrants, but there was inadequate water supply and pressure flowing.
According to the claim, this resulted in a delay of approximately 20 minutes before there was sufficient water to suppress or extinguish the fire. The delay enabled the fire spread, leading to the complete destruction of the property, the suit claims.
The suit says the city breached the duty of care owed to Aubichon by not reasonably taking steps to ensure that the fire hydrants were operable, had sufficient water resources, and were compliant with bylaws and codes.
It also claims these breaches amounted to gross negligence and caused or contributed to the destruction of the property.
Aubichon suffered loss and damage as a result of the city’s gross negligence, claims the suit.
That included economic loss from destruction of the property, fees imposed by the Takhini Mobile Park for clean-up from the damage, and pad fees charged by the mobile park after the property was destroyed.
The city has yet to respond to the suit, and the claims have not been heard in court.
Comments (8)
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Ryu on Nov 21, 2017 at 2:32 pm
There is definitely more to this story. How the department couldn't provide water, a basic commodity. Terrible. Add that to the fact that insurance isn't available to cover an old oil tank or the cost of rising mobile home cost. The city should be ashamed for not offering to make amends for an incident that could have been put out in less than half an hour.
I witnessed it. They were scrambling for nearly an hour - no water at all. Pretty sad.
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beg to differ on May 29, 2017 at 9:49 pm
"If, and only if you pay an LIC do you deserve to have the basic infrastructure that the City is REQUIRED to meet. "
spot on.
Anie, there is a major difference between an improvement and maintenance.
If taxes are being spent as they should, events like this shouldn't happen, and we shouldn't live in a city with such neglect in necessary areas and pomp in privileged areas.
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Anie on May 25, 2017 at 5:50 pm
"If, and only if you pay an LIC do you deserve to have the basic infrastructure that the City is REQUIRED to meet. "
C'mon, that's just a load of bunk. Perhaps you could arm yourself with some facts before making silly comments. Every neighbourhood has paid LIC 's for infrastructure upgrades. When you buy a property, IF it has infrastructure it's reflected in the price. If it isn't then price is/was less. When that infrastructure wears out, the neighbourhood pays for upgrades through LIC's. Hillcrest isn't special.
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.. did he pay an LIC on May 25, 2017 at 11:41 am
If, and only if you pay an LIC do you deserve to have the basic infrastructure that the City is REQUIRED to meet.
Where are all these tax dollars going?
You'd think with this many employees they could take a moment to do regular service, maintenance, inspection, on life saving infrastructure.
Wait, nope, they're doing more cooking classes.
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Nunya on May 23, 2017 at 4:25 pm
Yeah - hear both sides of the story before you judge. Seen it unfold and it wasn't just a small electrical fire. Fire coming out the back window (wide open) and the front door (which was also wide open) door on the side attached structure was also open. More to the story than is being told. Great job by Whitehorse Fire for saving the two or three properties on the sides.
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Insurance? on May 23, 2017 at 4:10 pm
Although I don't disagree that the lack of water is an issue, shouldn't insurance cover the other costs? Why should the City (aka tax payers) have to pay for one's lack of insurance responsibility? I'm assuming he didn't have insurance and that's why he's finding a new way to recover expenses.
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lan-lor on May 23, 2017 at 4:08 pm
I suppose it would have killed Takhini Mobile Park to waive the man's pad fee after his trailer was destroyed. Unbelievable. I am a landlord and have in fact waived notice and rent owed when tragedy struck. I'm walking the walk so have earned the right to say this. Miserly behaviour, all about the money. Mobile owners take note.
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If this case is true on May 23, 2017 at 2:59 pm
and courts agree, this is more examples of bad management by full time mayor, not investing money back into our safety infrastructure.