{"id":96726,"date":"2018-12-14T11:30:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T18:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/taxpayers-pay-half-the-costs-when-durango-silverton-train-starts-fires\/"},"modified":"2018-12-14T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T18:30:16","slug":"taxpayers-pay-half-the-costs-when-durango-silverton-train-starts-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/taxpayers-pay-half-the-costs-when-durango-silverton-train-starts-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers pay half the costs when Durango-Silverton train starts fires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Federal
Federal records show the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has a long history of starting wildfires and paying significantly less than the total cost of fighting the fires, leaving taxpayers with about half the bill.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s coal-burning locomotives have a long history of starting wildfires on public lands, with about half the firefighting costs falling on the taxpayers.<\/p>\n

According to a 20-year snapshot of fires started by the D&SNG in the San Juan National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service has billed the railroad $1,195,265 for putting out the wildfires.<\/p>\n

Of that amount, the D&SNG has paid only $623,078 \u2013 about half.<\/p>\n

It is a reoccurring theme in two decades\u2019 worth of fire investigations: A cinder from the D&SNG\u2019s coal-burning engine will start a fire in the national forest. The Forest Service will send crews to fight the blaze. Investigators will deem the D&SNG at fault and send the railroad a bill for suppression costs.<\/p>\n

But in almost every instance of several major fires started by the D&SNG, the railroad comes back with a lower counteroffer, often denying its locomotives were the cause of a fire.<\/p>\n

And the Forest Service, time and again, agrees to the railroad\u2019s marked-down offers.<\/p>\n

The federal documents were released this week as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, which sought Forest Service investigations on fires started by the D&SNG. The agency provided records of completed fire investigations from 1994 through 2013. While nearly 20 fires sparked investigations during that time period, the FOIA request focused on eight major fires.<\/p>\n

In August 2002, the Schaaf II Fire burned through more than 550 acres in the San Juan National Forest, and investigators deemed that a spark from a coal-fired train ignited the fire around 11:30 a.m. Aug. 16.<\/em>It took nearly six years, but in February 2008, the D&SNG was billed more than $502,000 for firefighting costs.<\/p>\n

Though no correspondence from D&SNG representatives was included in the Schaaf II Fire report, Forest Service officials indicate the railroad denied that its locomotive started the fire and claimed it was protected from responsibility.<\/p>\n

Instead, the D&SNG apparently offered to pay $100,000. In June 2011, nearly a decade after the start of the fire, the Forest Service agreed to the settlement, \u201cin order to avoid the uncertainty and expense of litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July 1994, the D&SNG was on the hook for about $452,800 after a cinder cast from a train\u2019s smokestack sparked the Mitchell Lakes Fire, which burned an estimated 270 acres about 15 miles north of Durango.<\/em>The D&SNG, according to documents, denied responsibility for the fire, which kicked off a six-year legal battle. Ultimately, in February 2000, the railroad agreed to pay $400,000 for fire-suppression costs.<\/p>\n

The Goblin Fire, again started by the D&SNG, burned more than 1,000 acres of the San Juan National Forest in October 2012. Two years later, the Forest Service sent the D&SNG a bill for $44,750 for firefighting costs.<\/em>The D&SNG offered to instead pay about $15,000 for labor and air support costs. Eventually, the Forest Service said it would bill the railroad only for days of active fire suppression from Oct. 6 to Oct. 9, 2012.<\/p>\n

The D&SNG agreed to pay $17,138 in April 2015.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, the Forest Service billed the D&SNG about $123,000 for three fires: the Cascade Canyon Fire, Needleton Fire and Bridge Fire, which together burned a total of 172 acres.<\/em>In 2004, D&SNG officials made a counteroffer to pay about $61,000 for all three fires, about half what the Forest Service initially billed. Both the D&SNG and the Forest Service settled on a $76,772 payment made in March 2005.<\/p>\n

A similar situation unfolded in May 2012 after the Needleton Fire near Cascade Canyon. The fire was contained at about 6 acres, but the railroad was still billed about $21,615 for suppression costs.<\/em>It appears the D&SNG and Forest Service agreed on a payment of about $15,600.<\/p>\n

The Durango Herald<\/em> requested similar reports from the Durango Fire Protection District, which often responds to smaller fires started along the tracks in La Plata County. The reports were not immediately available Tuesday.<\/p>\n

All this comes at a time when the D&SNG is suspected of starting the 416 Fire, which burned an estimated 54,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest, mostly in the Hermosa Creek area.<\/p>\n

The most recent estimate for the cost of fighting the 416 Fire, as of July 31, is about $40 million. The Forest Service has yet to release an official cause of the fire, which started June 1.<\/p>\n

Resident reports that the fire was started by a D&SNG train, however, have fueled intense speculation. Al Harper, owner of the D&SNG since 1998, was out of town this week. He previously said he is unable to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n

Efforts to reach his son, John Harper, D&SNG general manager, were not immediately successful Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The D&SNG invested heavily this summer in oil and diesel engines that are less susceptible to starting fires and will be used during times of extreme fire danger, Harper previously said.<\/p>\n

Forest Service officials for the San Juan National Forest said Tuesday morning they were working on a response.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taxpayers shoulder about half of costs for fighting wildfires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[2838,170,13,549,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-96726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-416-fire","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-united-states-forest-service","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96726"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=96726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}