Burger chain settles over fire

In-N-Out agrees with state claim that spark from a lawnmower caused a 2017 blaze.

In-N-Out Burger and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have settled a lawsuit alleging the restaurant company sparked a 2017 brush fire.

The Huasna fire started the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2017, at 9815 Huasna Road in Arroyo Grande — more than 20 miles from the nearest In-N-Out restaurant — and burned 244 acres before firefighters were able to fully contain it.

In a lawsuit filed in September, Cal Fire said it wanted In-N-Out to pay the agency $1.2 million for the costs it incurred in responding to and investigating the fire, in addition to covering attorney fees.

“In-N-Out Burger and Cal-Fire have amicably agreed to settle a lawsuit involving a fire that occurred over two years ago in September 2017,” In-N-Out said in a statement. “The terms of the settlement are not public and due to litigation the parties do not expect to have any further comment.”

According to the lawsuit, a man employed by In-N-Out was mowing the lawn on company-owned property the day the fire broke out.

The property was covered in dry grass and brush, and the weather was windy and warm, Cal Fire said in the lawsuit. As the employee was mowing the lawn, chaff built up on the mower’s deck and the tractor’s “power take off clutch” failed, causing it to ignite the chaff, which blew off the mower deck.

The In-N-Out employee “smelled smoke and saw a fire burning on the tractor’s mower deck before watching that fire spread to the surrounding dry annual grasses and scattered brush,” the lawsuit states.

Cal Fire alleges In-N-Out and the employee should have known the risks of operating the tractor under the warm, windy conditions and should have taken the necessary precautions.

“Wildland fires such as the Huasna fire ordinarily do not happen unless someone was negligent,” Cal Fire said in the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, health and safety codes allow the agency to recover fire suppression, investigation, accounting and other costs if someone allows a fire to be ignited due to negligence.

Cal Fire demanded payment from the restaurant on March 13 and Aug. 30, but did not receive any, according to the lawsuit. Neither attorneys for Cal Fire nor In-N-Out would disclose the settlement amount.