US: California Attorney General Robert Bonta has filed a US$2.8m lawsuit against what he called CalPortland’s ‘negligence,’ claiming that its Redding cement plant in California started the Wonder Fire to the north of the city in 2023. The California Department for Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said that CalPortland called for assistance on 24 July 2023 after a blaze broke out in vegetation on the company's property near its private railway, where five bulk storage rail cars had been moving. An employee was unable to suppress the fire and called 911, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit states that Cal Fire's investigator found some brake shoes on the 1976 locomotive were ‘significantly worn,’ allowing metal components of the brake shoes to make contact with the locomotive's metal wheel. The lawsuit claims that this metal-on-metal contact emitted molten metal and sparks capable of igniting dry vegetation along CalPortland's tracks.
The Wonder Fire was reported on 24 July 2023 near Wonderland Boulevard and Fawndale Road north of Redding and Mountain Gate in Shasta County. The brush and timber fire burned 65 hectares before reaching 100% containment on 28 July 2023. No one was injured and no structures were damaged in the fire that prompted temporary evacuations of the Bridge Bay Marina and other nearby areas, according to Cal Fire.
CalPortland has reportedly not responded to an email request for comment.
