Resident sues wood products company over California wildfire

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California man who lost his home in a wildfire last month has sued a wood products company at the center of the blaze, accusing it of failing to address the risk of a fire starting on its property.

The fire started near the Roseburg Forest Products Co. mill on Sept. 2 in the small town of Weed near the California-Oregon border. It eventually burned more than six square miles (15.5 square kilometers), destroyed 118 buildings and killed two people. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is still investigating the cause of the fire.

The mill produces its own electricity from wood remnants, a process that produces hot ash that is then sprayed with water from a machine. The company says it is investigating whether that machine, which it says is supplied by a third-party, failed to cool the ash enough, which could have started the fire.

Tuesday, lawyers for 61-year-old Robert Davies sued the company, saying it did not make sure the machine was adequately designed, inspected and maintained — making the shed where the ashes were stored “a tinderbox awaiting a spark."

Instead of fixing the machine, the lawsuit says the company relied on its employees to put out fires, resulting in “a number of unreported fires at the facility.”

“It begs the question, what was done from a safety standpoint to be able to address these fires that had occurred by using the correct technology and systems that would not rely solely on humans to be able to intervene,” Frank Pitre, one of Davies’ lawyers, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

The company has set aside $50 million to support victims of the fire, and so far it has compensated more than 300 people. That included Davies, who received...