Washington Sued Over State’s Most Destructive Wildfire

SEATTLE (AP) — Three people whose homes and land were burned by the most destructive wildfire in Washington's history are suing the state for negligence.

KIRO-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1MoJPUN ) that a lawsuit filed this week says the Department of Natural Resources was negligent by not fighting the Golden Hike Fire, which started small. The blaze grew into 2014's Carlton Complex Fire.

The property owners say the state was also negligent by not letting them fight the fire themselves. An attorney for plaintiff David Schulz says he was a firefighter in Okanogan County for 45 years.

Chelan-based attorney Alex Thomason says the Department of Natural Resources would not give the bordering landowners permission to go on its property.

Department of Natural Resources communications director Sandra Kaiser declined to comment on the lawsuit.