wildfire set by 10 y.0.

Our house, barn, and formerly heavily wooded 5 acres were in a 3800 acre wildfire set by a 10 y.o. Our house and barn were foamed by firefighters and survived without damage. However, we lost over 600 trees, many over 50 feet tall, the oldest 27 inches in diameter. Because there is less than 14 inches of rainfall annually most of these trees cannot be replaced, except with tiny seedlings. We lost all the trees in our front yard. We adjoin 850 acres in conservation easement, so their dead trees will never come down, drastically affecting our view. The loss of value to our $600,000 house is huge - I doubt we could sell now at any price, and probably not for many years. We had planned to sell and move in 3 years when our son goes off to college. The insurance is paying the policy limit for landscaping (5% of the insured value), but I don't think it covers loss of value to the property.

The state has decided not to pursue criminal charges against the child or his family. They are from out of state. They were staying at a cabin on the conservation easement land, where there are also 2 houses and a barn. The 10 y.o. found some matches and went out alone into the forest to play with them, 'accidentally' setting the fire about 10 am Aug 22. When he couldn't put it out he hid in his room. The forest had cougar, deer, wild turkeys, scorpions, eagles on it - a 10 y.o. unfamiliar with this land should not have been out there alone. The state has not released the name of the child/family.

Do we have grounds for a civil suit against the parents? How do we get their name? Given that they are out of state is this even pursuable? How do we find out if the state is going after them to pay some portion of the firefighting costs($1 million or more but federal funds will pay 75%). If they do would our suit, if there is one, be second in line for money after them?

We have neighbors who lost 28 acres of trees and 30 acres of trees respectively and a neighboring rancher lost about 2000 acres - 1/4 of his ranch. Unluckiest was our neighbor 3/4 mile away whose several thousand dollar home burned to the ground.

How can this 10 y.o and his family escape back to their untouched home with NO consequence when we will all have to pay for his stupidity/carelessness/deliberate firesetting for the rest of our lives? Do any of us affected have any legal recourse?

Am I correct in assuming the insurance, with Chubb, doesn't cover loss of value to the property, or do I need to get it out and read the fine print?

Read your policy or call the adjuster. We can't answer your question concerning insurance coverage.

The rest of this post is a duplicate. See wildfire set for responses.