A firefighter works on the Mile Marker 28 fire near Goldendale in July 2014. Klickitat PUD has reached a settlement regarding claims surrounding the fire.
A firefighter works on the Mile Marker 28 fire near Goldendale in July 2014. Klickitat PUD has reached a settlement regarding claims surrounding the fire.
GOLDENDALE — On July 14, Klickitat PUD announced it had reached a settlement agreement with the United States resolving the government’s claims arising out of the Mile Marker 28 fire.
The fire began on July 24, 2013, near Mile Marker 28 on U.S. Highway 97 in the Simcoe Mountains northeast of Goldendale. The parties disputed the cause of the fire, with Klickitat PUD maintaining that a logging company operating on the Yakama Reservation under the supervision of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs felled a tree on the utility’s distribution line, which the government had failed to mark.
The settlement resolves all of the government’s claims, including those made on behalf of the Yakama Nation, in both judicial and administrative forums.
“Klickitat PUD is pleased to be putting this dispute behind it with no admission of liability for a fraction of the damages originally sought by the United States,” said a press release. “While the utility continues to believe that the logging company and the United States were ultimately responsible for the Mile Marker 28 fire, it determined that it was in the best interests of the utility and the public it serves to avoid the uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of litigation in multiple forums.”
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