2 Firefighters Launch Rare Court Battle : Pair Seek Damages for On-Duty Injuries That Ended Careers

Two veteran firefighters, whose careers were ended by an exploding barbecue grill, have launched an unusual courtroom challenge to a traditional ban on public safety workers seeking damages for injuries suffered in the line of duty.

Capt. Richard Salazar, 59, and Roy Chastain, 50, both of the Garden Grove Fire Department, sustained second- and third-degree burns over 40% of their bodies in the explosion on Nov. 29, 1980.

They have alleged that the propane-fueled Fiesta model grill, which exploded while they tried to shut it off, was defectively designed. Chastain and Salazar never returned to duty, retiring for medical disabilities.

But in their Orange County Superior Court trial, which began Wednesday, they first must overcome the “fireman’s rule,” an old legal principle that bars lawsuits by firefighters and police officers for injuries they receive in the course of their duties.

A jury in the courtroom of Judge Richard W. Luesebrink will have to decide whether the case of Salazar and Chastain fits one of the few exceptions to the rule. Public safety officials cannot sue for injuries resulting from the known risks of their professions, but they may sue for hidden dangers, argued their attorney.

The firefighters were responding to a routine call for help from a Garden Grove homeowner who could not extinguish a flame near the valve of a five-gallon propane tank attached to his barbecue pit.

The homeowner, Ernest Taylor, had refilled the tank earlier and reconnected it to the grill. When he used a lighter to test for leaks, he saw the flame and called firefighters.

Firefighters smothered the 12-inch flame with carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher. It reappeared and was doused a second time. But the valve on the tank would not close. Chastain turned the tank over, then set it upright when liquid came out.

“I turned and looked at the captain for instructions, and--boom--the explosion occurred,” Chastain said in a sworn statement taken before the trial.

Salazar remembered hearing a “hissing sound.”

“I saw the cloud of gas coming out, and it came out every place,” Salazar said in a pretrial statement. “And then in a second or two, there was a big explosion, and that was that.”

The cloud of gas came in contact with the pilot light on a nearby water heater, triggering the explosion and a fireball that filled the fenced, 10-by-20-foot back patio and engulfed Chastain and Salazar.

Their lawsuit alleges that the grill, sold by El Patio Products Inc., was defective. The valve seat on the propane bottle was made of a “nylon material with a low melting temperature,” according to legal papers filed in the case. The valve partially melted and then broke off, allowing the gas cloud to escape. A second “fail safe” shut-off valve should have been built into the fuel unit, the firefighters claim.

“They did not expect that the only cutoff valve seat on an appliance used for cooking would be made of nylon, which could easily melt away,” according to documents filed by the firefighters’ attorney, Mark Robinson.

El Patio lawyers deny that their product malfunctioned and claim that the firefighters failed to take proper precautions, such as donning protective clothing, and then botched the job.

They contend that firefighters are trained to deal with emergencies and to appreciate the risks of their jobs. Even if someone was careless in starting the fire, that negligence furnishes no basis for liability to professionals acting in the course of their official duties, the lawyers say.

Robinson claims that old rule does not apply when the hazard is unknown--such as the malfunctioning valve.

A third Garden Grove firefighter who answered the Taylor call, Richard Casavant, 52, is also a plaintiff. He suffered burns on his face. Casavant retired about two years after the incident on a medical disability for unrelated reasons.

“They were all well respected and good at their jobs,” said Robert A. Wills, Garden Grove division fire chief for administration. “They were nice people, career firefighters. It’s a rotten shame.”

The City of Garden Grove is involved in the litigation in an attempt to collect the $150,000 in benefits it paid out to the firefighters.

In addition to El Patio, two other firms that manufactured the fuel supply system for the grill are defendants. Sherwood Selpac Corp. manufactured the valve--and 10 million others that have not failed, according to the firm’s attorneys. Manchester Tank & Equipment Co., which built the propane tank, also is a defendant.

Chastain was the most seriously injured. He spent 18 days in intensive care, one year as an outpatient and has needed psychiatric care. Burned on the face, hands, legs and abdomen, Chastain remains “extremely sensitive” to normal sunlight, Robinson said in his opening statement to the jury Wednesday.

Ten years before retirement, he was forced to take a job as a draftsman at lower pay. Exclusive of his pain and suffering, Robinson asked jurors for $552,000 to compensate Chastain for his medical treatment and lost wages.

Salazar, who spent two weeks in intensive care and many months as an outpatient, deserves $116,000, exclusive of pain and suffering, Robinson said.

Robinson asked the jury to set total damages for Casavant in accordance with the evidence.