CN Rail will again be allowed to appeal a $16-million fine it was ordered to pay after railway work sparked a 2,400-hectare wildfire near Lytton in 2015, according to a ruling Thursday from B.C.’s highest court.
CN was ordered to pay more than $16 million for its role in causing the 2015 Cisco Road wildfire, which burned for months south of Lytton.
The blaze began on June 11, 2015, just before noon. At the time, fire danger in the area was extreme.
The Cisco Road fire scorched 2,400 hectares and prompted evacuations and alerts in and around Lytton. It burned until October of 2015.
BC Wildfire Service investigators determined the fire was caused by CN workers cutting a rail line. In 2018, the railway was ordered to pay $16.3 million in fines and restitution, including more than $7 million to cover the province’s firefighting costs and nearly $9 million for the value of the timber destroyed by the blaze.
CN has been arguing since then that the compensation amounts were both too high. The company suggested a total of $8 million for firefighting costs and lost resources, which would cut the total penalty in half.
The railway appealed twice with no success — first through the Forest Appeals Commission and then in B.C. Supreme Court.
CN subsequently filed in the B.C. Court of Appeal. The railway’s lawyers argued during a hearing last month that the penalty should be reduced to account for damages arising from controlled burns carried out by the BC Wildfire Service as part of efforts to fight the Cisco Road blaze.
In a ruling Thursday, B.C. Court of Appeal Justice John Hunter agreed the railway raised an important issue that needs to be examined. He allowed the appeal to proceed.
“In this case, I am satisfied that the proposed appeal raises a substantial question to be argued that cannot be described as wholly devoid of merit,” the judge said.
“I am satisfied that the application of CNR meets the low merits test for leave to be granted.”
A date for the appeal hearing has not yet been set.
