A Wisconsin-area crash that began as a terrifying freak accident has turned into a frustrating billing fight for a woman whose car was crushed by a falling tree while she was driving.
In a Contact 6 report for FOX6 News Milwaukee, reporter Jenna Sachs told the story of Carrie Cusenz, who narrowly escaped serious injury when a tree came down on her vehicle on a Kenosha County highway. The crash totaled her car, brought down live power lines, and required hours of emergency cleanup.
Then came the bill.
According to Sachs, Cusenz later received a $1,250 charge from Kansasville Fire and Rescue for the accident cleanup, a fee she says feels unfair because she did nothing to cause the incident.
A Normal Drive Turned Into A Near-Death Moment
Cusenz told Sachs she was driving to Burlington in August when she heard what she described as a “horrific crack.”
Moments later, she saw a tree falling toward her.
“I honestly thought I was going to die,” Cusenz said in the report. “I thought that it was my final moment.”
The tree trunk ended up beneath her car, while the branches and canopy came down over the vehicle. She was trapped inside, and the situation became even more dangerous because live power lines were on top of the car.
Cusenz said she could not get out, and We Energies had to be called to deal with the electrical hazard. A deputy eventually helped her out of the vehicle.
Kansasville Fire and Rescue wrote on Facebook at the time, according to Sachs’ report, that Cusenz had simply been driving and minding her own business when the tree came crashing down on top of her car. The department said she was very lucky.
Cusenz told Sachs she was “extremely shaken up” but physically uninjured.
That detail is remarkable because the crash easily could have ended very differently. A falling tree is not like a normal collision where a driver may have a chance to brake or swerve; it is sudden, heavy, and almost impossible to predict in the moment.
The Cleanup Took Hours
The crash happened on County Highway J in the town of Brighton, near the Kenosha County and Racine County border, according to Sachs’ report.
Because the tree, car, and power lines all had to be cleared, crews shut down traffic for hours while they worked through the scene. Sachs reported that the sheriff’s departments from both Kenosha and Racine counties responded.
Cusenz later described the day as emotional, which is easy to understand given the circumstances. She had gone from driving normally to sitting inside a crushed vehicle with live power lines above her, waiting for help and hoping the situation did not get worse.
Her comprehensive insurance policy with USAA covered nearly $12,000 for the totaled car, Sachs reported, along with a $500 bill for medical attention. But it did not cover the fire department cleanup fee.
That gap between what insurance covered and what the emergency response cost is where the dispute began.
The Bill That Reopened The Ordeal
About a month after the crash, Cusenz received a $1,250 bill from Kansasville Fire and Rescue, Sachs reported. The bill stated it was a base fee for a non-resident vehicle owner, and Cusenz said it was for the accident cleanup.
Cusenz, who now lives in Indiana but grew up in Burlington, told Sachs the bill felt callous after everything she had already been through.
“It just seems incredibly callous to send somebody a bill who’s already been through this,” Cusenz said.
She also made clear that her frustration was not aimed at the value of the fire department’s work. Cusenz is married to a firefighter and told Sachs she has nothing against the department or the work firefighters do.
“I have nothing but respect for them,” she said. “But, why are you doing this? This makes absolutely no sense.”
That is the human side of the story. Emergency cleanup has a cost, but from Cusenz’s point of view, she was not an at-fault driver, not someone who ignored a warning, and not someone who created a hazardous scene. She was the person the tree landed on.
Why Some Fire Departments Charge Cleanup Fees
Sachs also spoke with John Breuer, president of the Wisconsin Fire Chiefs Association, who explained why fire departments may bill for accident cleanup.
Breuer said departments like his in Allenton charge cleanup fees for services that are not fully covered by local taxes or municipal budgets. He said departments normally try to bill the registered owner’s insurance company.
“Because budgets are so tight and so thin, we’ve got to be able to charge for it, just to be able to meet expenses,” Breuer told Sachs.
He said the at-fault driver’s insurance usually covers the fee, but this case is unusual because there was no at-fault driver in the ordinary sense. A tree fell, power lines came down, and Cusenz happened to be driving beneath it at the worst possible moment.
Cusenz described it as a “freak thing,” and that seems like the heart of the problem.
A billing policy may make sense when there is a crash caused by negligence or when hazardous materials create extra costs, but a falling tree sits in a gray area. The person whose car was crushed may be the easiest party to bill, but that does not automatically mean she feels like the right party to charge.
Fees Differ From One Community To Another
Sachs reported that Contact 6 reached out to more than a dozen fire chiefs across southeast Wisconsin to ask about cleanup fees and found that the rules vary widely.
Many departments charge a flat $500 fee. Others charge less, while some charge no cleanup fee at all. Some departments charge more when hazardous materials are involved, and others charge only non-residents.
Breuer told Sachs that departments are not simply looking for ways to charge more. He said many are struggling to keep up with inflation and normal operating expenses.
That part of the report shows why the issue is not simple. Fire departments have real costs, and local budgets often do not stretch far enough, especially in smaller communities. At the same time, the people receiving the bills may be accident victims who already lost vehicles, missed work, faced medical scares, or dealt with insurance stress.
The policy question is whether a flat fee can fairly handle every situation, especially when the person billed did not cause the emergency.
Who Should Pay?
Sachs said it is difficult to determine whether someone other than Cusenz should be responsible for the bill.
The highway belongs to Kenosha County but is maintained by Racine County. One side of the road is Burlington, while the other is the town of Brighton. There are also private homeowners in the area, which may raise questions about who owned or maintained the tree.
Sachs suggested that answering who should ultimately pay might require a lawyer.
USAA told Contact 6 that when extra fees or expenses are not covered, it advocates for members with the appropriate parties whenever possible, especially when the member is not at fault. Kansasville Fire and Rescue did not respond to Contact 6’s request for comment, according to Sachs’ report.
For Cusenz, the issue has become about more than the money. She said every time the bill arrives again, it brings the whole experience back.
“I feel like I’ve been through enough,” she told Sachs.
A Freak Accident With A Policy Problem
Cusenz says any policy that charges a victim of circumstance needs to change, and her case shows why these cleanup fees can feel so harsh when applied without room for unusual facts.
The fire department responded to a dangerous scene. Crews had to deal with a tree, a totaled vehicle, power lines, and blocked traffic, and that work costs money.
But Cusenz was not the cause of the danger. She was the person sitting inside the crushed car, hoping to survive.
Sachs’ report leaves the central question unresolved, but it also makes the issue clearer: when emergency cleanup costs fall into the gaps between insurance coverage, local budgets, and unclear responsibility, the bill can land on the person who already suffered the most visible loss.
In this case, that person was a driver who says she was lucky to be alive, only to spend the months afterward fighting a $1,250 bill for the mess the tree left behind.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
