The Maine Forest Service has found a regional freight railroad company violated state law, resulting in a high volume of fires this year along the nearly 7-mile stretch of railway that runs through Oakland, according to an email obtained by the Morning Sentinel.
While neither the Forest Service nor the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office would comment Tuesday on the investigation, the email indicated that the Forest Service had issued a summons to CSX Corp., which operates the rail line.
Earlier this year, a rash of fires along the CSX rail line in Oakland prompted an investigation by the Forest Service, which has jurisdiction over fires along rail lines in Maine. To date, the Oakland Fire Department has spent $9,908 fighting 28 railway fires from April to July, Chief David Coughlin said.
In the email, the Forest Service indicated it determined CSX violated state statutes on maintenance of locomotive fire prevention equipment and is seeking restitution to recoup the costs the Oakland Fire Department incurred fighting the fires, and is looking to present the case for prosecution.
The Forest Service declined to comment Tuesday, stating the agency would not release any information regarding the fires pending adjudication.
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said she could not comment on the facts of the case, but said the Forest Service conducts thorough and careful investigations of all its cases.
Austin Staton, director of media relations for CSX, said the company will not comment on ongoing investigations or potential disputes.
Andrew Cook, a Regional School Unit 18 school board member, serves on the board’s safety committee. Cook, who worked in the nuclear power industry, said he joined the committee because he learned in his job that big safety events don’t happen if you address the small ones.
During a spring safety committee meeting, Cook said Peter Tibbetts, an Oakland police and school resource officer, brought the frequent railway fires to the committee’s attention; several RSU 18 schools are near the railway. Cook said in one case a school maintenance worker had modified the ventilation system for Williams Elementary School, and Messalonskee middle and high schools to prevent smoke from getting inside the buildings.
RSU 18 Superintendent Andrew Carlton and Assistant Superintendent Keith Morin were not available for further comment Tuesday.
After learning about the fires in the spring, Cook volunteered to take the issue on, and began trying to work with CSX, Oakland’s fire department and the Forest Service to see what could be done.
“It’s been a long haul,” Cook said Tuesday. “I’ve been disappointed, not by anybody in the state of Maine — they have been very responsive — but CSX has been difficult to communicate with and not very open.”
Cook said the Forest Service, the Office of State Fire Marshal and RSU 18 safety committee have all taken the issue seriously.
“If we focus collectively on safety for the students and the staff and the faculty, we’re going to have better schools in every way,” Cook said. “RSU 18 is doing that.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Abigail Pritchard can be reached at apritchard@centralmaine.com.