§ 78.001.Liability

The chapter's original provision, and it is confined to property.

A volunteer fire fighter or a volunteer fire department is not liable for damage to property resulting from the fire fighter's or the department's reasonable and necessary action in fighting or extinguishing a fire on the property.

Fighting a fire destroys property, unavoidably. Doors are broken, roofs are opened, walls are cut, and water damages what the fire did not. All of it is necessary, and all of it is damage the owner did not consent to.

"Reasonable and necessary" is the condition, and it is the only one. Action beyond what the fire required is outside the protection.

The protection covers property damage alone — not personal injury or death, which the later subchapters address.

It is also confined to damage on the property where the fire is being fought. The words are "in fighting or extinguishing a fire on the property," so damage to a neighbouring property is not clearly within it.

The Tort Claims Act separately excludes claims arising from the failure to provide or the method of providing fire protection, which covers governmental fire departments. This chapter fills the gap for volunteer and nonprofit ones, which are not governmental units.