Buttram v. United States

William Buttram and Joshua Oliver were rookie firefighters for the Kuna Rural Fire District (Kuna). On July 28, 1995, a wildland fire emerged on land belonging to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Kuna asked the BLM’s incident commander, David Kerby, if he needed assistance. Kerby stated that he did. Kuna sent two brush trucks, vehicles that work on the front lines of a wildfire, and one water tender, a vehicular water reservoir. Buttram and Oliver took one of the brush trucks, while more experienced firefighters took the other vehicles. Kuna did not inform the BLM that Buttram and Oliver were rookies, and neither Kuna nor the BLM provided Oliver or Buttram, who had never fought a wildland fire, with any training. Prior to the fire, the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch that warned of thunderstorms and high-speed winds. Approximately an hour after the Kuna vehicles arrived, the National Weather Service contacted the BLM dispatch office over the BLM radio channel to issue a red-flag warning regarding the thunderstorm and potential 50 mile-per-hour winds coming from the south that would push the fire north. Kerby assumed the vehicles also heard the warning over the radio and did not ensure that each vehicle received it. Shortly thereafter, the other brush truck needed to be refilled. Buttram and Oliver’s vehicle followed it but never arrived at the refilling site. Others saw their vehicle driving over a black, burned-out area. A black, burned-out area was considered a safe area incapable of burning a second time unless the wind kicked up dust and ash, hindering visibility. The winds increased notably, and lack of visibility caused Buttram and Oliver to drive past their intended area toward unburned grass and sagebrush on the northern perimeter of the land. The winds then revived the fire and blew it northward. Buttram and Oliver tried unsuccessfully to outrun the fire before being consumed by it. Buttram and Oliver died. Buttram’s and Oliver’s families (plaintiffs) sued the United States (defendant), seeking damages pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act.