DURANGO SUES RAILROAD FOR SPARKING FIRE
Lawsuit blames railroad for starting the devastating 416 wildfire
Residents place blame on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad for the 416 fire that burned 50,000 acres.
Durango and Silverton residents have filed a civil lawsuit against the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Company claiming one of the company’s vintage coalfired steam trains ignited the 416 fire, causing devastating property and business damages.
The lawsuit filed Friday in La Plata County District Court on behalf of more than a halfdozen businesses and homeowners seeks unspecified damages against the train company and its primary owner, Al Harper.
“We know the train is beloved in the DurangoSilverton area. It is not our intent to put them out of business. However, we believe the management of the train should be held accountable for the damages they caused, which could have easily been avoided had they acted sensibly,” plaintiff attorney Bobby Duthie of Durango wrote in an email to The Denver Post.
The Durango law firm of Duthie Savastano Brunbgard and Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine have joined forces to bring the lawsuit against the train company.
The 416 fire started June 1 near the train company’s narrowgauge tracks north of Durango. It grew to more than 50,000 acres in size, becoming the sixthlargest wildfire in Colorado history.
Duthie said that, while he loves the train company, he decided to take legal action because it carelessly ran its coalfired steam train in an extreme drought despite starting numerous previous fires.
“As a result of the fire, Durango residents have suffered severe property damage and many were forced to evacuate their homes, property values have been significantly and negatively impacted, and many local Durango and Silverton businesses were forced to either close or they suffered huge losses in business and profits,” according to the news release.
After the fire, devastating flooding and mudslides further impacted the Durango community, the news release says.
“As I learned about the many fires the railroad started and its decision process to run a coalfired steam locomotive during extreme drought conditions, I was moved to act, so my fellow La Plata County and San Juan County citizens and businesses could recover their losses from the responsible parties,” Duthie said in the statement.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit plan to invite Durango and Silverton residents to attend educational meetings to learn about their rights. Kirk Mitchell: 3039541206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or @kirkmitchell or denverpost.com/ coldcases