One of my clients decided to sell a five-acre lot in Rio Verde. Rio Verde is just north of Scottsdale up against Tonto National Forest. The lot has views of the Four Peaks and the McDowell Mountains. We were under contract and expected to close on Friday – two days away. Imagine my surprise when the neighbor, Fred Flintstone, called on Thursday and said he had set the lot on fire. How you might ask? According to Fred the buyer had visited the lot and talked to Fred about access. The seller had put up a metal pole fence to keep people from riding their trail bikes and ATVs on the lot. The buyer said he wanted the pole fence removed. We are not sure why Fred did not check with me (my sign was on the lot) or the owner (he had her contact information) before doing anything.
Instead, Fred took a grinder and was cutting the fence down. The sparks from the grinder set the brush near the fence on fire. Unfortunately, Fred did not read the USDA brochure that says to take a shovel, fire extinguisher, and plenty of water if you are going to create sparks just in case a fire does start. Here is what might have happened. On April 27, 1996, a party of two campers left a campfire unattended in the Four Peaks wilderness near Lone Pine Saddle. This caused the Lone Fire which burned over 61,000 acres and lasted 11 days. The Lone fire was Arizona’s largest recorded wildfire before the Rodeo–Chediski Fire in 2002. If Rural Metro had not contained this fire quickly it could have been very bad indeed.
When Fred called me to tell me I asked why he did this. He said he was trying to be a good neighbor. I told him good neighbors don’t set their neighbor’s property on fire. Luckily Fred, along with the other neighbors, called the fire department. The wind was blowing the fire directly toward a neighboring house. (Unfortunately, it was not Fred’s house.) Rural Metro was able to contain the fire quickly and no structures were damaged. Fred thought only 1.5 acres has burned. The fire captain said it was more like 3.5 acres. Great.
Now realtors don’t always share with their clients the details of minor things going wrong with the transaction. Unfortunately, this was not minor. I called the seller and she was understandably very upset. We drove out to the lot to see the damage. Rural Metro was still there cleaning up to make sure there were no hot spots. The lot looks like crap but luckily none of the mature saguaros had burned. We were concerned the buyer would cancel due to the damage. Even though the buyer was going to build several houses, which would require excavation, it was still a concern.
The next day was when the buyer was supposed to complete the purchase. The buyer’s realtor said it was because of a delay in getting the paperwork from the buyer’s lawyer. The buyers were setting up a new partnership. Both and the seller and I were concerned the buyer would cancel due to the fire and that the paperwork was just an excuse. Luckily it was just paperwork and the buyer completed the purchase a couple of days later. As one of my clients said, “This was truly a fire sale!”
Thanks to Rural Metro for their fast response to contain what could have been a very bad fire.