(The following report by Jeff Humphrey appeared at KXLY.com on August 13.)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Fire crews are keeping a close eye on the fire danger near Cheney where a series of wildfires burned through hundreds of acres and destroyed one home while investigators look toward a railroad as the fire’s potential source.
The three fires that make up the Marshall fire are 90-percent contained and now investigators are trying looking at variety of potential causes but so far everything they have leads them back to the railroad.
Northeast Washington has seen 40 train-caused fires in the past decade, and Marshall has been the scene of at least three train-caused fires during the same period. The small town sits on a grade above Spokane and trains either braking for the slope or trying to climb the incline start fires there with some regularity.
“Hot carbon particle out of a stack that can cause a fire as well as a bad brake as well as metal against metal that can cause a spark,” Department of Natural Resources spokesman Steve Harris said.
That’s why state law requires from April to October that all locomotives be followed by a speeder car equipped with shovels, water and other fire fighting equipment. However DNR officials say the train that passed through Marshall shortly before the fires were reported didn’t have a speeder car.
“To our knowledge there was no speeder car on the locomotive that passed through this fire shortly before it started. We are looking for information. If there is information otherwise of course we’d like to hear about that,” Harris said.
The Marshall fire’s point of origin was directly above the railroad tracks, the flames burning uphill where they jumped the Cheney-Spokane Highway and went on to consume several hundred acres including one family’s home. If the train had a speeder car with it, much of the damage theoretically could have been marginalized.
“You obviously have a potential cause associated with the fires,” Steve Harris said. “The fire’s started along the tracks at several different locations so of course we’re going to be looking at the locomotives.”
Officials with Burlington Northern Santa Fe say they don’t run speeder cars after each and every locomotive but instead in regular patrols, which is contrary to state law and one reason why the railroad could end up paying for the costs of putting this fire out.
A four person wildfire prevention team is in town Monday and on Tuesday they’ll be going door-to-door to give neighbors wildfire risk assessments with information such as creating defensible space and forest management.