YREKA, Calif. — Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (COPR) pleaded no contest to 10 misdemeanors Wednesday, putting an end to two years of litigation between the railroad and Siskiyou County over a series of wildfires, the Siskiyou Daily News reported.
The railroad also agreed to a civil settlement with the county, which could cost the company as much as $3.5 million.
The plea and settlement was announced by District Attorney Pete Knoll. The criminal charges against the railroad involved more than 35 fires between the Oregon border and the city of Weed, beginning in 1995. Most of those fires were small spot fires occurring along the railroad tracks and were attributed to brake failures and spark arrester maintenance problems with the train’s engines.
In June of 2001, the railroad was blamed for the Hutton Fire that burned 282 acres of timber, grassland and threatened homes west of Interstate 5 between Hornbrook and Hilt.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) claimed at the time that the Hutton Fire was caused by carbon being emitted from the stack of a northbound COPR train. Suppression efforts in the Hutton Fire involved an air attack, heavy equipment and ground crews at a cost of more than $450,000, according to CDF.
San Francisco attorney Clyde Hutchinson represented the railroad and an officer of the company Wednesday when the no contest pleas were entered. Judge Roger Kosel placed the railroad on informal probation for three years, ordered $29,299 be paid to CDF for fire suppression costs and $29,000 in fines and penalties.
A restitution hearing was set for Dec. 12 for a judge to determine how much of the $450,000 in fire suppression costs claimed by CDF in the Hutton Fire will have to be repaid by the railroad. Knoll said in a press release Wednesday that the total settlement package including fines and restitution in the criminal case and the penalties contemplated in the civil settlement could cost the railroad as much as $3.5 million.
The civil settlement outlines a fire safety program that will require new turbo-charged locomotives to be phased in over the next three years at a cost to the railroad of $2.9 million.
COPR will also be required to pay $175,000 in penalties directly to Siskiyou County and restitution to individuals with outstanding property damage claims, with at least one of those claims exceeding $200,000.