Oregon Department of Forestry
investigators have determined that the 2020 Santiam Canyon fire was not caused
by downed power lines as plaintiffs’ attorneys have alleged but rather by hot
embers drifting into the canyon from the nearby Beachie Creek fire.
The report, released March 19 to the
Oregon Journalism Project under a public records request submitted in January,
is a huge victory for PacifiCorp, the embattled utility that in 2023 was found by a jury to have been grossly negligent in declining to shut off power to the Santiam Canyon.
Department of Forestry investigators
agreed with PacifiCorp attorneys, who argued in Multnomah County Circuit Court
that it was hot embers from the Beachie Creek fire that started the fires.
“ODF investigators did not find any
evidence that reported powerline ignitions had contributed to the overall
spread of the fire in the Santiam Canyon,” the report read. “The most probable
explanation for these ignitions is spot fires from the main Beachie Creek Fire,
which was burning upwind of the ignitions in the Santiam Canyon.
“With a megafire, such as those that
occurred prior to and through Labor Day weekend 2020, the rising heat and gases
can create a large convection column that may carry fire brands away from the
fire and start spot fires.”
The department did determine that downed
PacifiCorp power lines started seven fires. But all were extinguished at the
time by homeowners or firefighters, the report said.
The cluster of fires in the vicinity
burned more than 400,000 acres and killed five. It destroyed parts of Gates and
Lyons, small towns on the Santiam River. The forestry department’s own regional
headquarters in Mehama was destroyed in the fire.
“The ODF’s thorough investigation,
spanning many years, uncovered no evidence that any power line ignitions played
a significant role in the fire’s spread in the Santiam Canyon,” PacifiCorp
spokesman Simon Gutierrez said. Instead, as the ODF concluded, “There were
other ignitions in the area where no roads or powerlines were present.”
“While we continue to acknowledge the
tragic impact of the 2020 wildfires, ODF’s investigation provides crucial
context and details that were unavailable and absent during the James trial proceedings,” Gutierrez
concluded.
What this means for the James case, the massive class action
lawsuit filed by local residents, is unknown. The residents won at the trial
level in 2023. A jury found the company grossly negligent and reckless. In
subsequent hearings to determine damages, the plaintiffs have been awarded about $6 million apiece.
But that process of determining damages
is moving so slowly it could be 10 years before it’s through.
PacifiCorp has also appealed the verdict.
Cody Berne, an attorney for the
plaintiffs, said new evidence cannot now be introduced at the trial level or
the appeal.
“A jury of 12 Oregonians heard nearly two
months of evidence,” Berne said. “The parties took dozens of under-oath
depositions, gathered thousands of records and presented experts on both sides.
The jury found that PacifiCorp’s negligence was a substantial factor in burning
the Santiam Canyon and even found that PacifiCorp acted willfully and
recklessly, ultimately awarding punitive damages based on the evidence it saw
at trial.”
The forestry department said its
investigation was hampered by both the U.S. Forest Service and PacifiCorp. “ODF
was unable to analyze electrical equipment and powerline hardware in the
Gates/Mill City area,” the report said. “This was due to PacifiCorp and their
contract crews working to repair and restore power, including the removal of
damaged electrical equipment. The specific items and quantity of hardware
removed is unknown; the potential evidentiary value of this equipment is
unknown as well.”
The U.S. Forest Service, meanwhile, would
not allow its workers to be interviewed by state investigators. Later, the
department said, it had to file public records requests to the Forest Service
to get certain documents.
—This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon. Learn more at oregonjournalismproject.org.
This article appears in The Source Weekly March 20, 2025.
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