King 5 news in Seattle continues to investigate and expose the negligence of the railroad companies, especially Burlington Northern Santa Fe, in regards to starting hundreds of wildfires along their tracks in the state of Washington. They first reported on this in November, 2009.  Over a 10-year period, railroads, mostly Burlington Northern Santa Fe, were listed as the cause for 234 fires. One person was killed when he was overrun by one of the fires as he operated a combine. Several people have lost their homes. However the company has NEVER been cited for causing any of the fires.

This is negligence squared, in that the railroad was negligent for starting the fires, and the state, including Joe Shramek, the Resource Protection Manager for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, was negligent for not prosecuting the railroad for even one of the 234 fires.

The state of Michigan has a very different philosophy about holding railroads accountable for starting fires. There, as we reported in February, the Department of Natural Resources investigates fires and when appropriate turns over their evidence to the Attorney General for prosecution. Lake State Railway is facing criminal charges for allegedly starting a 2008 fire that torched some 1,300 acres of forest, several homes and other buildings in Grayling. And in a more recent example, when a train was suspected of starting several fires in Alpena, Michigan on April 5, 2010, Paul Kollmeyer, a Department of Natural Resources and Environment Wildfire Prevention Specialist conducted a large part of the investigation and submitted a report to the AG’s office within a week of the fires occurring.

Washington’s Department of Natural Resources needs to stop sitting on its hands. But thankfully the Burlington Northern Santa Fe is taking some measures to prevent future fires caused by their trains, as reported in the King 5 video below:

Wildfire Today commends King 5 for exposing the negligence of the railroads and the State government in Washington, and also the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment for holding accountable the people and companies responsible for starting fires.

On February 16 Wildfire Today reported that the Attorney General of Michigan filed felony charges against the Lake State Railway for allegedly starting the 2008 Grayling fire that burned 1,300 acres. Today the Traverse City Record-Eagle wrote an editorial about the actions of the Attorney General. Here is an exerpt:

…The criminal charges are not good news for the railway, and possibly industries and businesses in the northeast corner of the Lower Peninsula that ship freight by rail. If convicted, LSR could be ordered to pay fines and full restitution. The estimated cost of the fire totaled $934,000 — $464,000 in lost timber, $370,000 in personal property loss and $100,000 for firefighting.

The cost of (spark) arresters — if it is found engines were not equipped with them — compared to possible restitution is peanuts.

The state Department of Natural Resources is to be commended for pursuing its two-year investigation, and Cox is right to file charges if evidence indicates that the company is responsible.

Wildfires anywhere, but especially in forested areas, are serious and deadly business. It is fortunate that no lives were lost.

Spark arresters and other safety equipment are a must for trains. The laws are there for a reason.

Congratulations to the Traverse City Record-Eagle and the Michigan Attorney General, Mike Cox, for their good work. They are setting an example that the state of Washington should follow, holding railroads accountable for starting fires.

According to Paul Kollmeyer of the DNR, the Grayling fire was one of few capable of jumping a 4-lane highway and median. This photo depicts the fire as it continues its charge toward Grayling. It also shows the fire has already jumped across I-75. DNR photo.

From alpenanow.com:

Lake State Railway is facing criminal charges for allegedly starting the 2008 fire that torched some 1,300 acres of forest, several homes and other buildings in Grayling.

The railroad company is also accused of starting another fire in Arenac County. Attorney General Mike Cox believes both fires were started by a train engine that threw burning embers from the exhaust system because it was not equipped with standard safety equipment called spark arresters.

Lake State is charged with two felony counts of setting fire to a forest land and two misdemeanor counts of operating an engine without spark arresters.

If found guilty, a court could order the railroad company to pay fines and full restitution, including property damage and response costs. The Grayling fire resulted in an estimated $464,000 in timber damage, $370,000 in personal property damage and $100,000 in fire suppression costs.

In a press release, the Attorney General said the railroad “knowingly operated an unsafe train engine” without functioning spark arrestors. In addition, “When a company ignores standard safety practices and threatens not only the environment but human lives, we will hold them accountable.”

Too often railroads get away with felonies, including murder or manslaughter, for starting fires, because the responsible agencies fail to adequately investigate the cause and origin of railroad-caused fires….and because law enforcement agencies fail to file charges when a case can be proven. Congratulations to Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox for having the courage to pursue these cases in Michigan.

As we reported on November 5, 2009, a television station found that over the last decade 234 fires in Washington were attributed to railroads. Houses burned and one person was killed, but no citations or criminal charges were issued. Zero for 234. Not a very good batting average for the fire agencies and Washington’s Attorney General Robert McKenna, who has been in that position since January, 2005. At the very top of the Attorney General’s web page is this:

The Attorney General’s Office makes a difference every day for the people of Washington.

Sometimes the difference is positive, and sometimes, not so much.

We have another report of a fire caused by a railroad. From The Latest:

The Superior [Montana] Fire Department responded to a fire along the MRL tracks west of Town on Tuesday morning. Montana Rail Link has a pile of old, creosote impregnated ties piled along the track at Spring Gulch. This pile is approximately 1,000 feet long and several feet high. A train used to grind down the rails had recently passed the area and sparks from the grinding operations apparently ignited the pile. Heavy clouds of black smoke were visible from the interstate.

After knocking down the blaze with water and foam, crews were able to get close enough to remove ties on both sides of the burning section so that the fire did not spread to the entire pile. Approximately 10 air bottles, 20 gallons of foam and 3000 gallons of water were used. MRL personnel provided assistance at the scene and a crew from Superior Ranger District was also on scene. With limited manpower available in Superior on a weekday, Frenchtown Rural Fire District provided a coverage crew for Superior.

Congratulations to the Superior FD for 1) using breathing apparatus while dealing with that nasty creosote smoke, and 2) for building a fireline on both sides of the burning section of ties so that the entire pile did not burn. Too often you hear about huge piles of burning tires, logs, or pallets, when firefighters attempt to put out the fire only with water, when removing some of the fuel ahead of the fire could keep it from spreading. Take it from an old Hot Shot who has removed a lot of fuel with a Pulaski and a chain saw.

Wildfire Today has reported on a lot of fires caused by railroads.

At Wildfire Today we have frequently written about wildfires caused by the negligence of railroad companies. For example:

Fires caused by railroads are much more numerous than people think. Most railroad fires are caused by improperly maintained turbo chargers on the engines. If not maintained, large pieces of red-hot carbon can be blown out of the turbo chargers, starting fires. A smaller percentage of railroad-caused fires originate from brakes that lock up, become super-heated, disintegrate and shower the area with hot metal. I once responded to a series of 11 fires over several miles that started from hot brakes.

A cause and origin fire investigator, looking for what started a fire near railroad tracks, can usually find many pieces of carbon along the tracks. To definitively say that a single piece started a particular fire can be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

In some parts of the country, including northwest Indiana, railroads have gotten a free ride. They save money by reducing the maintenance on their turbo chargers, start fires, then many times get away with it.

One of the troubling parts of the video is when Joe Shramek, the Resource Protection Manager for the Washington Department of Natural Resources says they can’t take action against a railroad for starting a fire unless they can prove that:

…the railroad acted deliberately, intentionally, and recklessly.

That is a ridiculously high standard. In most states and on federal land, a deliberately-set fire is one thing, arson, and a fire that is unintentional but results from negligence is treated as a separate violation of the law.  If the State of Washington can’t prosecute someone for negligently allowing a fire to start and/or burn public or private land, they need to amend their law.

The State of Washington is negligent for sitting on their hands while they watch the railroads start fires and in some cases kill people and burn houses.

Here is a second video from KONG that provides more details about why they conducted their investigation.

Here are links to documents provided by KONG:

• DNR database on railroad fires (.pdf file)
• Fire Marshal’s database on railroad fires (Excel file)

The second in their series of reports will air Thursday night. We will post that video when it becomes available.

A train is being blamed for starting five wildfires in southwest South Dakota on Friday. One of the fires near Ardmore burned an estimated 20 to 25 acres.

We have reported on numerous railroad-caused fires previously and have said that most of the time the railroad company receives a free pass. They start the fire (usually preventable by proper maintenance of their equipment), fire departments respond, put out the fire, and that’s the end of it.

Most railroad-caused fires are preventable.They are not inevitable.

Railroads need to be held accountable. They need to be billed for the suppression costs and any damage caused by the fire. They should also be charged with the crime of starting a fire. Only then will they have an incentive to properly maintain their equipment. Last year the U. S. Department of Justice settled a record $102 million civil lawsuit with the Union Pacific railroad for starting the 52,000 acre Storrie fire in the Plumas and Lassen National Forests in California in 2000.

File photo of a railroad-caused fire in Indiana. Photo: Bill Gabbert

Fire departments, while suppressing a fire near railroad tracks, should also shut down the tracks to any further train traffic. This will provide a safer working environment for the firefighters, and also tends to get the attention of the managers of the railroad, especially on a busy section of track. Fire dispatchers should have the phone numbers available for the railroad dispatch office so they can make the call to shut down the tracks if requested by the on-scene firefighters.

Trains are supposed to stop if an emergency vehicle is parked near the tracks with the red lights flashing, but they don’t always adhere to this rule. I did this once on a fire and the train made what the engineer called an “emergency stop”. He was pissed, because when this is done, they have to walk the entire length of the train to check for any problems that may have been caused by the quick stop. Coal-hauling trains can be very long… I’m just saying.