12 News reported that a Scottsdale firetruck was involved in a multi-vehicle crash near Scottsdale and Pinnacle Peak roads. Two people were taken to the hospital, and their conditions were not known. No determination of fault has been reported, and the circumstances of the collision have not been described publicly.
When a crash in Arizona involves a firetruck or another vehicle owned by a city, town, county, or the state, the claim runs on a different and much shorter clock than an ordinary collision. Under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, a person seeking damages from a public entity or a public employee must serve a written notice of claim within 180 days of when the claim accrues, and that notice has to state a specific amount the claimant will accept to settle, along with the facts supporting it. Miss the deadline and the claim is barred, no matter how serious the injuries. A.R.S. § 12-821 then requires any lawsuit against a public entity to be filed within one year, rather than the two years that A.R.S. § 12-542 gives in most injury cases. Emergency vehicles operating with lights and sirens also have limited statutory privileges, but those privileges do not excuse a driver from exercising due regard for the safety of others.
The 180-Day Notice of Claim Is the Deadline That Catches People
Most people injured in a crash assume they have two years to sort things out, because A.R.S. § 12-542 gives two years for ordinary personal injury claims. That is not the rule when a government vehicle or a government employee is involved. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a written notice of claim delivered to the correct person within 180 days; for a city, that typically means the official authorized to accept service for the municipality, not the fire department and not an insurance adjuster. The notice must include a specific settlement demand and the facts that support it. Courts in Arizona have enforced this strictly, including the requirement that the demand state an actual sum.
Because 180 days passes quickly while someone is still in treatment, the practical move is to start gathering records early rather than waiting until medical care is finished.
Fault Can Be Shared, and Sharing It Does Not End a Claim
Arizona uses pure comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505. A jury assigns a percentage of responsibility to each party, and an injured person's recovery is reduced by their own percentage. Someone found twenty percent at fault still recovers eighty percent of their damages. There is no cutoff that bars recovery at fifty percent, as there is in many other states.
This matters in a multi-vehicle collision, where responsibility may be divided among several drivers. An early statement blaming yourself, or an adjuster's quick assignment of fault, does not settle the question. Percentages are decided on evidence: the police report, physical damage, scene measurements, signal timing, and any video from nearby businesses or vehicles.
Practical Steps in the First Weeks
Get the incident or report number from the responding agency and request a copy of the report when it is released. Photograph your vehicle before repairs and keep the damaged parts if you can. Write down what you remember while it is fresh, including the direction you were traveling and what you saw or heard before impact.
Follow through on medical care and keep every bill, discharge instruction, and referral. Gaps in treatment get used to argue that an injury was minor. Tell your own insurer about the crash, but understand that a recorded statement to another party's insurer is not required of you. If a public entity may be involved, calendar the 180-day date immediately and work backward from it.
If you were hurt in this collision or another one in the area, our Scottsdale car accident attorneys can explain how the notice of claim deadline applies to your situation.