Alechoff

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment in favor of plaintiffs in an action wherein they sought" damages for the destruction of property by a fire set by defendant which spread to the premises occupied by the plaintiffs. The property in question comprised personal property owned by plaintiffs and certain buildings occupied by them situated upon real property held by the plaintiffs under an executory sale contract. The facts as found by the court are substantially as follows: That on or about the third day of December, 1921, the defendant started a fire within the city limits of the city of Vernon, county of Los Angeles, about 5 o’clock A. M., in a pile of rubbish deposited by it on a vacant lot about two hundred feet long and ten to twenty-five feet wide and of considerable height, averaging about eight feet; that while burning, the flames therefrom rose at times to as high as forty feet in the air, and the smoke and sparks therefrom rose to a height of about two hundred feet into the air; that about twenty-five feet directly south of and extending several hundred feet easterly and westerly from the spot where said rubbish pile was located the city of Los Angeles maintained…