Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad’s wooden trestle bridge between Mineral and Morton caught fire Wednesday night and collapsed on Thursday afternoon in a blaze investigators say was “human-caused.”
The specific cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The trestle collapsed at 5:22 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, with a secondary collapse at 5:35 p.m.
“The entire thing is not yet on the ground, but the majority of it is on the ground,” Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildfire Communications Manager Thomas Kyle-Milward said Friday morning.
DNR crews will continue to work the fire over the weekend.
The fire was reported at approximately 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, according to Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad.
At the time, the railroad crew was having dinner to celebrate the confirmation that the sale of the railroad from its previous corporate owner to the nonprofit Western Forest Industries Museum that currently runs it had been finalized.
“After years of effort, we were finally going to own the thing we’ve poured our lives into,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad said in a news release posted to social media Thursday morning.
Railroad personnel, including Western Forest Industries Museum CEO Behan Maher, then started seeing comments on a community forum about a fire in the valley.
“We ended up calling the (fire dispatch) non-emergency line and saying ‘Hey, what’s going on?’” Maher said Thursday afternoon.
Maher and other railroad personnel ended up driving out to the site to meet fire crews with the DNR.
Due to the 28-span bridge’s remote location, it took the railroad and fire personnel over an hour to reach it.
They arrived at about 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
“And sure enough, it’s our
largest bridge that has gone up in flames,” Maher said Thursday afternoon. “Last night, in darkness, it was very obvious that the bridge was up in flames. Today, there are still pockets of flames, but the whole thing is smoldering.”
The bridge was rebuilt 20 years ago and was “the key to reopening freight and passenger service to Morton — work we’ve been making real progress on,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad stated. “That span carried more than trains. It carried the weight of our financial stability, our plans for local industry, and the future of the communities we serve.”
Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad reopened in September 2023 under the leadership of the Western Forest Industries Museum, following a closure in 2020 under its former out-of-state, for-profit ownership.
Since reopening in 2023, Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad staff have cleared miles of track, resumed passenger excursions on an 18-mile track starting in Elbe, launched RailCycle rail bike excursions, acquired several historic rail cars and even restored the Polson 70 steam engine’s original Crosby 3-chime whistle.
As of September 2024, the railroad reported that it anticipated having a total of 70,000 passengers by the end of the year.
“Our organization has done a herculean amount of work in the last two and a half years,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad stated in a release. “We’ve carried more passengers than ever before. We’ve cleared more track. We’ve fought for every inch of progress with sweat, sacrifice, and no shortage of stress. And this — this hurts. We’ve cried, a lot. We’re tired. And we’re angry.”
Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad confirmed Thursday morning that its regular excursions were still running and that the bridge was on a section of track that was slated for restoration.
Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad has alleged that arson or reckless burning were involved.
“Because let’s be clear: bridges do not spontaneously combust. Someone did this. Whether through recklessness or malice, someone set in motion the destruction of decades of infrastructure and millions in future regional impact,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad stated in its news release on Thursday.
In December, Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad reported that an unidentified subject entered the railroad’s property after hours on Sunday, Dec. 22, and again on Monday, Dec. 23, “with expressed intent to cause significant harm to our equipment,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad said in a Facebook post on Dec. 24. “This individual was clearly unprepared to meet our night watchman, who interrupted their actions” on Dec. 22. There have been no reports of the individual returning to the railroad’s property since that incident.
Fire Investigator Patrick Coleman confirmed at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Thursday that “The fire is human-caused and still under investigation.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, human-caused fires include all fires that result from human activity, such as campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, equipment use and malfunctions, negligently discarded cigarettes and intentional acts of arson.
Maher confirmed at 11:35 a.m. Thursday that the “bridge is a total loss and collapse is imminent.”
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office posted a request for the public’s help identifying a subject “who may have information on a criminal investigation in the Morton/Mineral area” on its social media page Thursday afternoon, but posted a photo of a longtime Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad volunteer who the railroad confirmed Thursday evening was not a person of interest in the investigation.
As of Friday morning, the sheriff’s office had removed the photo with the update “Subject has been identified. Thank you for your assistance!”
At 11:47 a.m. on Thursday, Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad posted on social media that there were “gaping holes in the bridge infrastructure” and that portions of the bridge were beginning to collapse. “At this point, for the sake of containment we are hoping for a total collapse,” the railroad stated.
As of Thursday afternoon, Maher said, helicopters had been dumping water on the bridge “for hours now, so there’s a lot of steam rising up.”
The helicopter was dismissed from the scene at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to Kyle-Milward.
While the bridge was still upright as of 2:28 p.m. on Thursday, many of the bridge’s piers had collapsed.
“We expect it to collapse and that’s probably the best for containment,” Maher said Thursday afternoon.
The railroad posted a video of the bridge’s initial collapse a short time later.
No firefighters were injured in the collapse.
DNR fire crews established an indirect line around the trestle on Thursday, establishing a 1-acre perimeter to prevent the spread of wildfire.
The highly flammable creosote wood preservative used on the majority of the trestle bridge made saving the bridge nearly impossible, and with the bridge at serious risk of collapsing, DNR prioritized firefighter safety and preventing the spread of wildfire over trying to save the bridge, according to Kyle-Milward said.
While fire crews established a 1-acre perimeter around the trestle, the estimated acreage of the fire Friday morning was half an acre, according to Kyle-Milward.
Type 2 helicopters, two engines, two hand crews and a dozer worked on the fire Thursday. DNR ended the day Thursday with one dozer, two hand crews, one dozer and one engine on scene.
Kyle-Milward confirmed Thursday afternoon that the specific cause of the fire had not been determined and that the fire investigator’s investigation was still active.
The railroad is currently asking the public for financial support to cover costs associated with the fire — including insurance deductibles, legal costs, fire investigation costs and recovery planning.
Maher added Thursday that it was “very, very unlikely” that insurance would cover the fire damage due to the timing of the sale and the cost of the rebuild.
“We’re still licking our wounds, and we don’t know what the path forward looks like yet. But we do know we need help,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad stated.
A GoFundMe started by Maher Thursday morning had raised $53,429 of its $100,000 goal as of Friday afternoon. To donate, visit https://tinyurl.com/mtuum4zk. Checks can be mailed to WFIM, PO Box 465, Eatonville, WA 98328.
The railroad has also indicated that ticket sales for train and RailCycle excursions will go towards supporting the nonprofit’s work with the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, including costs associated with the bridge fire.
While the trestle fire has not impacted Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad’s regular operations, it will likely have significant negative impacts on the railroad’s plans for restoration and growth over the coming years.
“I don’t think we’ve wrapped our heads around the impacts of it yet. Back of the envelope, it’s probably a $30 million bridge and this doubles the cost of reopening the railroad,” Maher said. “We work in really really small communities where economic impact provided through tourism operations is huge, so, you know, it definitely is sort of a … dagger through the heart, in terms of our future potential for train service, and it’s certainly going to drastically increase the timeline and cost for rebuilds if it’s even still possible.”
While the fire is a significant blow to Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, the railroad has stated that it remains committed to Western Forest Industries Museum’s mission of cultivating an understanding of early Pacific Northwest logging and logging railroads and fostering appreciation for outdoor activities while preserving and maintaining the freight corridor.
“If you’ve ever believed in what we’re building here — or if you’re just as mad as we are that someone tried to destroy it — please help us rebuild. This place matters,” Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad stated. “We’re down. But not out.”
