UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Lured by the prospect of free demolition, home owners around the country sometimes offer their houses to the local fire department for training purposes. The department burns down the house, clearing the way for the owner to build a bigger and better one.
But in court cases in Ohio and Wisconsin, the Internal Revenue Service is arguing that because such houses are already slated for demolition, donating them for fire training isn’t an act of charity and can’t be claimed as an income-tax deduction.
Churches, corporations and cities with vacant properties also donate buildings for fire training. Sometimes it is a dilapidated old barn, other times a sprawling suburban house.
Nobody tracks the number of live burns nationally, but in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, the fire department has burned down at least 32 such homes since 1988. One of them, burned in 2004, was owned by ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit, whose claim of a $330,000 tax deduction was rejected.
The Associated Press
