A wood products company said Wednesday that it is investigating whether a fire that killed two people as it swept through a Northern California town was caused by the possible failure of a water-spraying machine used to cool ash at its veneer mill.
Roseburg Forest Products Co. also announced that although the investigation was not complete, it was planning to provide up to $50 million for a community restoration fund.
"Roseburg is investigating whether the third-party machine failed to cool the ash sufficiently which thereby ignited the fire," the release said. Elsewhere, wildfires burned out of control in Southern California and in the Sierra Nevada, forcing evacuations. The fire erupted Monday amid triple-digit heat and spread ferociously, killing two people who were found in a vehicle, severely burning another person while destroying seven structures and damaging several others.