Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have intentionally burned dry forests and other ecosystems as a means of land stewardship called cultural burning. Fire set by humans and lightning shaped the land—lowering the risk of intense wildfires by burning crowded and dead overgrowth and debris. Beginning in the 19th century, that natural relationship between dry forests and fire was interrupted by settlement, by grazing, by logging, and by fire suppression.
Wildfire activity across the United States has continued to intensify, creating an evolving legal and regulatory landscape for utilities, insurers, municipalities, and industrial operators alike.
The January 2025 fires in the greater Los Angeles area were the costliest wildfire events on record, generating an estimated $40 billion in insured losses.
In the western US, peak wildfire conditions now routinely span from late spring through October, while central plains and southeastern states – once considered lower risk – are experiencing critical fire conditions earlier in the year and later into the fall.
In this new Insider Exclusive “Justice in America” Network Special, “Wildfires/Prescribed Burns High-Stakes Liability Battles: The 341,735-acre Hermits Peak/ Calf Canyon Fires our news team is on location in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to meet with Daniel Walker, Attorney, Clark, Fountain, Littky-Rubin & Whitman to discuss the successful Legal strategies, Specific challenges, and unique aspects of this case in which his firm secured $4,250,000.00 from the United States on behalf of their client, the Cummings and Greenhaw family, from the U.S. Forest Service for their failures in the Santa Fe National Forest Pecos-Las Vegas Ranger District in New Mexico on April 6, 2022.
Following the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire—the largest in New Mexico history—the USFS faced a massive liability reckoning after multiple planned burn piles escaped and merged into a devastating megafire. This sparked widespread lawsuits and forced Congress to mandate a unique compensation program. https://www.fema.gov/
It reinforced the principle that federal responsibility for a prescribed burn begins when they light the fire and does not end when a fire is contained. It extends to foreseeable post fire hazards, including severe flooding and debris flows, that threaten communities downstream.
Within hours of starting the fire, the U.S. Forest Service lost control of the prescribed burn and declared a wildfire which was titled the Hermit’s Peak Fire. The Hermit’s Peak wildfire also eventually merged with the Calf Canyon Fire, another wildfire that was caused by underground smoldering after the USFS improperly extinguished a pile burn in January of 2022.
The Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Fires merged and burned more than 340,000 acres in northern New Mexico. The fire left a massive burn scar in the Sante Fe National Forest, stripping vegetation, destabilizing soils, and dramatically increasing the risk of sudden, life‑threatening flash flooding during normal seasonal rain.
On July 21, 2022, Dan’s clients’ loved ones – Jimmy Chris Cummings and his wife, Linda Jane “Jane” Cummings, both 62, and Jane’s 84‑year‑old mother, Betty Lou Greenhaw, were inside their long‑time family cabin, a place their family had cherished for more than 60 years. That evening, thunderstorms formed over the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar.
Within minutes, and without warning, a violent wall of water, ash, trees, boulders, and debris roared down the Tecolote Canyon. The flood destroyed the Greenhaw and Cummings cabin, and swept away all three family members.
The surviving children and family members of Jane, Chris, and Betty retained the law firm, Clark, Fountain, Littky‑Rubin & Whitman, and attorneys Daniel D. Walker and Mark W. Clark to pursue a Federal Tort Claims Act case against the United States for the negligent actions and omissions of the U.S. Forest Service that caused the fire and flood, and ultimately led to these three preventable deaths.
Dan Walker and Mark Clark are available at https://www.clarkfountain.com/ 561 559 7875