Whitmire v. State

At about 2:30 a.m. on June 28, 1949, the claimant, a volunteer fireman, responded to an alarm of fire in a home on Grand Island. He carried a hose from a pumper which was stationed on the West River Road, and proceeded easterly through tall grass and weeds in the direction of the burning building. He fell into an open and unguarded cellar about four to five feet deep and sustained personal injuries for which he seeks damages from the State of New York. The excavation into which claimant fell was on land owned by the State. It had been acquired in 1935 by the county of Erie for highway…