Dec. 10—The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is suing Inland Power and Light over costs the department incurred from investigating the Gray fire, a blaze that devastated the West Plains last year.
The lawsuit, filed by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in Spokane last week, claims the power company was “negligent” and the department should be paid following its large-scale investigation, which concluded this year that sparks from an Inland Power security light caused the fire.
The fire spread to 10,000 acres, burned 240 homes, displaced thousands of people and killed an 86-year-old man.
Inland Power’s attorney Scott Cefriese was not immediately available for comment Tuesday, but typically does not comment on pending litigation. Inland Power has denied liability for the fire in a previous case, previous reports from The Spokesman-Review say, arguing that the fire was caused by an unavoidable accident or “act of God,” which Inland Power couldn’t have predicted.
According to the lawsuit, DNR submitted a written demand in October for Inland Power to reimburse the state of Washington for almost $936,000. The amount is reduced from the original cost, partly because of federal grant money the agency received.
Inland Power “refused” to reimburse DNR, the lawsuit states. It also says Inland Power should have shut off the power light that caused the fire and been aware of the fire danger posed from the windy and dry conditions that day, calling the light company “negligent.”
Thomas Kyle-Milward, the communications manager for DNR, previously told The Spokesman-Review that DNR will often forward the results of an investigation to the attorney general for review. The attorney general’s office represents state departments during litigation.
DNR spokesperson Jessa Lewis declined Tuesday to give a statement on the lawsuit but instead pointed to the report for any further clarification.
A group of 44 Medical Lake residents sued the company last year, claiming the faulty light that was never replaced was the cause of the blaze.
Inland Power has not responded to the complaint as of Tuesday.