OROVILLE, Wash – The State of Washington says property owners in Oroville did not heed warnings in the summer of 2023 and caused a wildfire that burned more than 34,000 acres in Washington and British Columbia.
The Eagle Bluff Fire started on July 29, 2023. By the time it was out, it had charred 16,483 acres in Washington and just over 17,000 acres in Canada.
According to a lawsuit filed this month in federal court, the fire started on property belonging to Mark Whigham and Renee Shepley-Ragan.
PAST COVERAGE: People asked to evacuate for wildfire burning in Okanogan County
The lawsuit describes conditions that day as concerning enough that the National Weather Service declared a red flag warning. A burn ban was also in effect for Okanogan County at the time.
In addition, the area was under a Level 2 Industrial Fire Precaution Level. which prohibits the cutting of metal between 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm.
Around 2:00 that afternoon, Shepley-Ragan called 911 to report a fire on her property. During that call, she handed the phone to her son, Mark Whigham, “who identified himself… and indicated that he caused the fire by using an angle grinder to cut metal.”
State and federal resources were called in to fight the fire which burned for several weeks and threatened homes, buildings, vineyards and other infrastructure.
One report said the cost to fight the fire was nearly $10 million.
The lawsuit, filed by the United States of America and the State of Washington, accuses Whigham and Shepley-Ragan of negligence, saying they failed in their duty to “exercise reasonable care to prevent the fire from igniting given the circumstances that made the risk of wildland fire particularly dangerous that day.”
They want the defendants to pay for fire suppression costs, damages, administrative costs and the cost of rehabbing the damage to forest land.
A total amount was not given in the lawsuit.
The case was filed on May 22nd. The defendants have not yet responded.
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