Six New Jersey Fire Squads Sued Over 2001 Crash

Six Morris County fire departments that responded in June 2001 to fight a massive gasoline fire caused by the collision of tractor-trailers on Route 80 are being sued for alleged "gross negligence" for initially dousing flames with water instead of foam.

Five volunteer departments, their municipalities, Picatinny Arsenal Fire Department and the arsenal itself have been named as third-party defendants in a lawsuit filed by two entities already being sued by the state as well as by a truck driver involved in the June 22, 2001, crash.

"It's like no good deed goes unpunished. I think the claim is specious," said attorney John Dorsey, counsel for the Joint Insurance Fund that covers eight of the 12 defendants.

The new lawsuit assigns another layer of finger-pointing for the 5 a.m. crash that crippled a 4-mile stretch of the interstate from Parsippany to Denville, forcing motorists onto secondary roads. The roadway was restored to normal traffic flow in four months at a cost of more than $6 million to the state.

The complaint, filed in Superior Court, Morristown, names the fire departments from Picatinny, Boonton Township, Denville, Parsippany, Rockaway Township and Rockaway. It was filed by attorney John R. Geraghty, who represents Flexi-Van Leasing Inc., owner of the chassis of a trailer involved in the collision, and Howland Hook Container Terminal, which leased the chassis.

The complaint alleges that the fire departments should be held responsible for initially fighting a gasoline fire with water instead of foam, causing it to intensify, spread and travel down the highway to a bridge where flames caused extensive damage to the bridge abutment and highway.

Firefighters "knew or should have known that gasoline will float on the surface of water, and that deploying a stream of water on a gasoline fire would result in the spread of the fire on top of the water," the complaint said.

Officials and fire chiefs in most of the municipalities could not be reached Wednesday or did not return calls for comment. Frank Misurelli, spokesman for Picatinny Arsenal, said he could not comment. Rockaway Township Mayor Louis S. Sceusi and Rockaway Councilman John Willer Jr. said they were fully supportive of their fire departments.

"I have every confidence in our fire department and support them 100 percent," Sceusi said.

Several fire experts said that it was easy to second-guess responses to a tremendous fire. Dousing gasoline flames with water is not wrong, they said, but it is not the ideal if foam is available.

"There are so many variables to consider when you arrive at a scene. The key is sizing up the situation, what resources you have on hand, and evaluating all the conditions," said Steve George, programs manager for the Oklahoma Fire Service Training, a state agency affiliated with the International Fire Safety Training Association.

Jack Alderton, Morris County's fire mutual aid coordinator, said that choices of how to fight a blaze depend on resource availability, whether anyone is believed to be trapped and even the direction the wind is blowing.

"Everything depends on conditions," Alderton said.

Several lawsuits relate to the crash, including the state's complaint filed 11 months ago against three truck drivers and their companies to recoup the $6 million repair cost. The state's lawsuit contended that driver negligence and tailgating led to the collision between three tractor-trailers, one hauling gasoline.