PORTLAND, Ore. — Union Pacific Railroad has agreed to pay $199,731 for an urban wildfire that threatened a neighborhood near the University of Portland last August but won’t be forced to pay the cost of fighting the blaze, the Oregonian reports.
Under a settlement released Monday, the railroad will reimburse the city for the cost of replanting the fire-scarred Willamette Bluffs, barricading streets during the five-alarm blaze and the 3 million gallons of water used to fight it.
Although the Portland Fire Bureau wanted to bill the railroad for battling the blaze, the city decided Union Pacific could reject such charges because it pays taxes.
Mark Stairiker, a city liability claims manager who worked on the settlement, said the railroad pays about $500,000 a year in property taxes. Under state law, that covers firefighting services, he said.
A Fire Bureau investigation blamed sparks from a Union Pacific train with mechanical problems for starting the Aug. 8 brush fire that threatened as many as 100 homes atop the bluffs.
Stairiker said the settlement doesn’t amount to an admission of fault by Union Pacific. “We never got around to (discussing) fault,” he said.
Indeed, the claims settlement, signed by City Commissioner Jim Francesconi, who oversees the Fire Bureau, states that Union Pacific is not accepting responsibility but has agreed to a compromise.
Steve Smith, a Portland-based Union Pacific claims representative, declined to comment on the settlement Monday.
The blaze was one of the worst wildfires in Portland’s history, taking 170 firefighters, every fire truck in the city, helicopters and fire boats to battle. In the end, fighting it cost city taxpayers $142,000, Stairicker said.
The settlement, which prevents the city from seeking additional money from Union Pacific and its employees, took more than six months to negotiate.
“This is all the money (the city) will ever receive for the fire,” although there may be “facts and consequences of facts relating to the fire,” the settlement states.