STATE, BY & THROUGH ST. FORESTER v. Estremado

The state in this civil action contends that defendant 1 failed to make every reasonable effort to extinguish a forest fire and that, consequently, it is liable for the state’s cost of abating the fire. ORS 477.066(1); ORS 477.068(1). At the close of the evidence in a trial to a jury, the court granted defendant’s motion for directed verdict and entered judgment thereon. The state appeals, assigning as error the order directing a verdict for defendant.

ORS 477.066(1) imposes a duty to fight forest fires. It provides:

"Each owner and operator of forest land on which a fire exists or from which…