A 680-acre San Bernardino County wildfire that took 275 firefighters eight days to contain started with a few sparks from an excavator.
That’s what the federal government alleges in a complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court in Los Angeles.
The government is suing an Upland-based pipeline company and its founder, Garrett John Gentry, for negligence and seeking more than $2.2 million in damages in the fire, which chewed through 450 acres of the San Bernardino National Forest.
“Defendants are responsible for all damages to the United States resulting from the South Fire, including its firefighting costs and the United States’ costs of administration, investigation, accounting and collection,” the government says in the lawsuit.
A call to Garrett J. Gentry Engineering was not immediately returned. The 14-year-old company serves California and Arizona and clears $35 million in revenue annually.
The fire in the south started on August 25, 2021 and was eventually extinguished on September 2, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The agency said nine structures – residential and commercial – were destroyed and 28 others were damaged. There were no injuries or deaths.
According to Cal Fire, the fire started north of Glen Helen Parkway and east of Sierra Avenue and Lytle Creek Road just west of the 15 Freeway. The lawsuit claims the fire originated at a property at 4053 Lytle Creek Road in Fontana.
There, the suit says, Gentry drove an excavator and tried to determine the viability of developing a commercial property on an underdeveloped site.
The government said Gentry, the owner, realized he was in terrain that was too rocky and tried to leave the area. During his retreat, he noticed smoke behind him. He tried but failed to suppress a fire that eventually started the eight-day blaze, the lawsuit alleges.
State investigators said the excavator’s steel steps hit rock and caused the ignition. Nearby dry vegetation then served as fuel to fuel the fire.
The government claims Gentry knew the area was rocky and “failed to exercise reasonable care,” according to the lawsuit.
Gentry and his company also failed to take steps to prevent the fire, the lawsuit alleges.
The United States is asking for a jury trial.