$15M lawsuit filed over wildfire that threatened Hanford

The late July day was hot, dry and windy.

But the training with live ammunition at the Yakima Training Center went ahead as usual.

A gunner fired at a target and the burst of ammunition ricocheted onto the ridge line, sparking a fire that spread across 275 square miles and threatened the Hanford nuclear reservation, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court.

Lower Yakima Valley cattle ranchers are suing the Department of Defense for nearly $15 million for damage to their land and livelihood.

They say the U.S. Army acted recklessly in allowing training exercises to proceed on July 30, 2016, the day the Range 12 Fire started, despite a red flag fire warning.

“The Yakima Training Center’s fire response personnel were not able to contain the fire to the Yakima Training Center due to the high winds and tinder dry conditions,” the lawsuit said.

The fire quickly spread off of the training center, burning south to southeast, crossing Highway 24 and burning ranch land for several days, the lawsuit said.

The suit was filed by Carl and Marshall Anderson and Elmer C. Anderson Inc., with land near Prosser, and Jeff Wiersma and J2 Cattle Co., with ranch land near Outlook in Yakima County.

The fire damaged their businesses and cost them income, the lawsuit said.

As it burned toward Hanford, a back fire was set on Rattlesnake Mountain on the Hanford Reach National Monument that was created out of the security boundary around Hanford.

The back fire climbed from the 1200-Foot Level Road near Highway 240 up the steep slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain and over the top to merge with the Range 12 Fire on Aug. 1. The advancing wildfire died out with no more fresh grass to burn.

The lawsuit said the Yakima Training Center has had five significant fires since 1987, most of them directly tied to training and happening in the afternoon hours.

On the day before the Range 12 Fire started, several other fires started across the Yakima Training Center during training with live ammunition.

Training was stopped that day “because of the severity of the fires, projected fire risk and a requirement to replenish resources expended through the day fighting fires,” the lawsuit said.

Training resumed the next day even though fire conditions at the training center had not improved, the lawsuit said. The Range 12 Fire started about 4 p.m.

The military concluded that fire conditions that day were so extreme that once a fire started, the fire could not be controlled or contained no matter how many resources were available, the lawsuit said.

The defendants failed to take reasonable precautions both to prevent a fire and then to make sure that fire would be quickly contained, the lawsuit said.

This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 6:12 PM with the headline "$15M lawsuit filed over wildfire that threatened Hanford."