New Hampshire police may not be authorized to order residents out of their homes in a flood, but fire chiefs are.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a lower court ruling that threw out charges against Evelyn Bernard, of Allenstown, N.H. She was arrested in April 2007 when she and her husband refused a fire chief’s order to evacuate in a flood. The case now goes back to district court for a trial.
Bernard’s lawyer had argued successfully in district court that a flood is not an emergency, but the high court disagreed. It also said that while police officers do not have authority to force people to leave home during a flood, state law does give that authority to fire officials.
