(Does the thread title travel well?)

I read this in the local news tonight and the gall astounds me. It appears that the firefighters back burnt four lots in order to stop a wildfire. Now the three homeowners are suing the state of Alaska for damaging their properties and affecting their value.

The last sentence is the one that really got me: The only thing that didn't burn was the cabins. (!) What do you want to bet that the properties are already green and growing again? Maybe next time they should let the wildfire travel at will - and see then how much gets damaged.

Alaska landowners sue over backburning damage
Story last updated at 9/2/2010 - 9:52 am
The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS – Private landowners in Alaska want the state to pay for the damage done by backburning to stop wildfires last year near Nenana.

Cindy Walker, Charles and Margaret Gray and the William Brewer family are asking the state for at least $100,000 in each of four lawsuits.
The property owners have lots in the Dune Lake, Totek Lake and Teklanika Channel Lake subdivisions. The subdivisions surround small lakes in the flatlands west of the Teklanika River, off the road system.

The owners told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner the backfires reduced the value of their lakeside property. "The point is, what's a piece of burned-out property worth versus a piece of beautiful lakeside property?" said Bill Satterberg, who is representing the landowners.
"You can't just go around destroying people's property and not pay for it," Satterberg said.

The lawsuits were filed in Superior Court this week. The state has not responded. The News-Miner said efforts to get a comment from the Alaska Department of Law were unsuccessful.

According to court filings, the wildfires involved were the Railbelt Complex Fires that burned west of Nenana in 2009. The landowners claim the state failed to mop up after rains doused the fires and they reignited. The state decided to light backfires on private property to create a fire line, but destroyed timber and foliage on the private property, decreasing the value, according to the lawsuit.
"They basically scorched their property," Satterberg said. "The only thing that didn't get burned down were the cabins."

From here:

Anyone else got any stories of greed and ingratitude?