Burning to get sued

A couple years after it burned the first time, firefighters had to answer another fire call to what is arguably Grand Coulee’s biggest eyesore Monday night, one that shouldn’t be there at all.

The little green house at Van Tyne and Spokane Way has been just a shell after burning the first time. It should have been torn down long ago.

Not tearing it down leaves not just an eyesore but what insurance carriers call an attractive nuisance, one that could cause injury. And it probably leaves someone, possibly the city of Grand Coulee, in a position to get sued the first time a curious child manages to enter the structure and get hurt.

I don’t know what kind of regulations the fire department has to follow, but practically speaking, it would have been better if they could have let the place burn.

Since they didn’t, the city should take steps to demolish the unsafe building that attracted a homeless man who sought shelter and place to build a fire on a cold winter night.

If whoever owns that building can’t or won’t remove it, the city should do so and bill the owner or place a lien on the property.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher