Oregon鈥檚 forestry department has concluded that the state鈥檚 second-largest electrical utility, PacifiCorp, didn鈥檛 spark any of the Santiam Canyon fires that consumed hundreds of homes in 2020.
That鈥檚 despite federal fire responders reporting early on that the fires were sparked by electrical equipment 鈥� and despite a nearly unanimously jury verdict in 2023, which found the utility caused substantial damage during fires in the canyon, as well as fires in southern and coastal parts of the state.
The Oregon Department of Forestry released its Wednesday in response to public records requests by multiple news outlets. It comes as PacifiCorp, which is owned by the trillion-dollar company Berkshire Hathaway, pushes for state legislation that would , and a week before a trial begins in Multnomah County to determine how much the company owes additional plaintiffs. PacifiCorp is the parent company of electric utility Pacific Power.
Since the 2023 class-action lawsuit, juries have awarded over $240 million to 44 plaintiffs, and PacifiCorp has settled with another 403 plaintiffs for $178 million, as reported by the .
Citing interviews with local fire responders and about a dozen residents, the Oregon Department of Forestry鈥檚 report says PacifiCorp鈥檚 electrical equipment sparked about seven fires, but nearby residents and local fire responders put those out before they could spread. What eventually culminated in the Santiam Canyon Fire 鈥� which killed five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and burned over 193,000 acres 鈥� didn鈥檛 stem from PacifiCorp鈥檚 downed power lines and exploding transmitters, forestry department investigators said. Rather, embers from the nearby lightning-caused Beachie Creek fire, which started on federal land, led to the Santiam Fire.
Over that Labor Day weekend, U.S. Forest Service press releases attributed at least 13 Santiam Canyon fires to downed power lines. Levi Hopkins, deputy chief of policy and planning for ODF鈥檚 protection division, told the Statesman Journal that Forest Service employees' written statements could not say whether those press releases were true.
The Forest Service refused to allow the Oregon Department of Forestry to directly interview its employees, ODF鈥檚 report says, only providing written statements from eight employees. ODF couldn鈥檛 ask follow-up questions.
PacifiCorp executives celebrated ODF鈥檚 report a few hours after it was publicly published.
鈥淲hile we continue to recognize that the 2020 wildfires were undeniably tragic, the thorough investigation by ODF provides important context and details absent during the trial proceedings,鈥� Pacific Power president Ryan Flynn said in a news release.
While ODF鈥檚 report may benefit PacifiCorp in future trials, courts aren鈥檛 likely to overturn previous decisions because of it.
It鈥檚 unusual for fire investigations to take this long. ODF鈥檚 report attributes the delay to limited resources. Its staff also couldn鈥檛 access the area until a week after the fires started.
鈥淭he department recognizes that this has been a long-anticipated report and that there are still several other reports from the 2020 Labor Day Fires that the public would like to see,鈥� an ODF press release reads. 鈥淭he remaining reports are currently undergoing cost collection litigation to recoup firefighting costs and reduce financial impacts on taxpayers.鈥�
ODF鈥檚 report says PacifiCorp employees removed damaged equipment before fire investigators assess the scene, something that also came to light during trial. ODF staff don鈥檛 know what was removed or how valuable it could have been to investigations.
鈥淥DF鈥檚 report apparently doesn鈥檛 consider all the evidence that came out at trial,鈥� Cody Berne, an attorney representing plaintiffs in PacifiCorp lawsuits, said in a statement. 鈥淥DF released this report despite acknowledging that it was 鈥榰nable to analyze鈥� key evidence because PacifiCorp took it to the dump 鈥� a fact that the jury also knew and could weigh in making its decision.鈥�
The report doesn鈥檛 cite testimony from the class-action lawsuit against PacifiCorp.
鈥淭he ODF investigation is an independent, unbiased investigation specifically created to recoup fire costs and is separate from third-party litigation,鈥� Joy Krawczyk, an ODF spokesperson, said, adding that ODF wouldn鈥檛 comment on litigation between private parties.
Some of the public testimony from that case includes information that goes against ODF鈥檚 conclusions. For example, its report says fires stemming from PacifiCorp鈥檚 equipment at a school in Gates didn鈥檛 spread.
Nathan Steele, a cattle truck driver who tried to help put fires out that day, that the fire spread beyond the Gates School. He had never seen it extinguished during the 24- to 36-hour period that he remained in the area, according to court transcripts.
During court proceedings, Dean Warner, a federal fire behavior analyst who was with a firefighting team at the Gates School, said he saw multiple fires at the school and the surrounding area. He said he didn鈥檛 believe those fires stemmed from Beachie Creek fire embers. Federal firefighting resources had to be redirected to the Gates School in ODF鈥檚 jurisdiction because of fires sparked by powerlines, Warner said.
ODF鈥檚 report also doesn鈥檛 cite text messages sent between PacifiCorp staff during the days of the fire, reported by .
鈥淕od the fires near our service territories are right underneath our lines鈥�.,鈥� Pavel Grechanuk, a PacifiCorp fire data scientist, wrote to a colleague, noting the company鈥檚 equipment was near some of the earliest starting points of the fires.
