Husband of woman killed in ’21 Clark fire sues power, tree trimming companies

POWELL — The volunteer firefighter whose wife was killed in a November, 2021, fire in Clark has sued the local power company and a tree trimming contractor as part of a wrongful death suit. 
Jerry Ruth’s wife Cindy died while trying to escape the fire in an area of homes near the Montana border while Jerry helped fight the fire as a member of the volunteer fire department. 
In the civil suit filed Nov. 7 in Park County Fifth District Court, Ruth, through his attorneys, seeks unspecified damages exceeding $75,000 in the loss of his wife of 38 years. 
He alleges that both the Beartooth Electric Cooperative, based in Red Lodge, Montana, and Asplundh Tree Expert, based in Pennsylvania, were negligent when the tree trimming company, hired by the electric cooperative, did not properly trim back a tree within or near Beartooth’s right of way.  A branch of the tree later hit the power line and ignited the Clark Fire, according to the plaintiff’s allegations. 
The tree trimming company had been hired by Beartooth to trim trees along its right of way, including the power line along Louis L’Amour Lane where the Ruth’s lived. 
“Under standards of the industry, Wyoming law, and the Contract, the tree should have been trimmed to a distance that would have prevented its contact with Beartooth’s powerline. Beartooth and Asplundh each failed to comply with these standards,” the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint. 
Ruth, through his lawyers, is asking for damages in an amount to be determined by a jury. 
The fire erupted after dark on Nov. 14, 2021, and rapidly burned more than 300 acres near the residential area along Line Creek. Dozens of residents on and around Crossfire Trail were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night as the flames were fueled by dry conditions and wind gusts reported to have reached in excess of 100 mph. 
As the Clark volunteers battled the blaze, they were joined by crews from Powell, Cody and Belfry, who arrived just after 11 p.m. 
Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service firefighters arrived early Tuesday to relieve crews who’d worked through the night. 
During a community meeting in January, Beartooth Electric Cooperative officials acknowledged an electrical line started a tree fire in the Louis L’Amour neighborhood of Clark late on the night of Nov. 14, 2021. 
However, they claimed at the time it wasn’t the cause of the wildfire that spread through the Line Creek area and beyond, burning homes and outbuildings and killing Cindy Ruth. 
Kevin Owens, general manager for Beartooth Electric, traveled to the Clark Pioneer Recreation Center in late January to deliver the results of a preliminary investigation by the cooperative’s insurance agency. 
He told the crowd of more than 100 residents — still reeling from the loss of life and devastation to the neighborhood — that a Beartooth Electric line swaying in 130-plus mile-per-hour winds started a fire in a tree 5 1/2 feet from the line. 
During his presentation, Owens showed photos of where the wire made contact with the tree, revealing charred and blackened branches above dry brush. 
However, he said there wasn’t enough charge from that fire for sparks caught in the high winds to start the blaze that began about 150 feet away and eventually spread across the 300 acres. 
Instead, Owens said a witness — who he refused to name — saw a mysterious black Chevy pickup in the vicinity that afternoon and an ash can found in the area may have been the cause. 
“Where that ash bucket was, whether it was involved in the fire, I can’t tell you,” Owens said, adding, “[The witness] was also adamant that the ashcan was the source of the fire.” 
A forensic fire investigator brought in from Denver arrived on scene about two weeks after the fire, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Owens said. 
The investigator reportedly refused to say if the ashcan was the source of the fire, claiming it was beyond the limited scope of the investigation. 
“All they were hired to do was to look specifically at that wire/tree contact,” Owens said. “Their job was not to look for the source of the fire.” 
Clark residents weren’t buying “the message” Owens was sent to deliver, as he put it. 
During the question and answer period, many in attendance disputed the findings from the investigation. 
Larry Dodge, who was stationed near the source of the fire on a structure protection crew, said the wind made it impossible to fight the flames. 
“There was a solid shower of embers going horizontally for at least a quarter mile past us,” he said, asking, “What makes the insurance adjuster think if there was fire enough in that tree to burn a branch off, [with] a 130-mile-an-hour wind blowing against it and there weren’t hot embers come off in that tree?” 
Dodge said there weren’t any hot ashes in the bucket. 
Owens admitted he didn’t know where the ashcan came from, saying it could have blown in from the next property over. 
Former Clark fire chief Dave Hoffert also spent the night battling the blaze and challenged the investigators' conclusions. 
“I, for one, was a witness to what went on that night at that location, and your investigator’s report is false,” he said. “I need assurance that you’re not turning away and ignoring this — that you will ask for a second opinion and you will do a further investigation with some of the witnesses that were on site at that very location that night, because this is a mistake.” 
Jerry Ruth continued to fight the blaze while he knew it was headed toward his home. 
Cindy may have died in the fire while saving family pets. Her body was found near the house, and the pets, still alive, were located in a family vehicle. Ruth died from smoke inhalation in the blaze, according to her death notice. 
She was the mother of three adult children. 
Hoffert had said the department would do their own investigation, but the results have yet to be released to the Tribune. 
In the civil suit, Ruth alleged that Beartooth failed to supervise and confirm that Asplundh’s work was done correctly and the trees were trimmed far enough back from the power lines. 
“Beartooth and Asplundh’s negligent operation, inspection, maintenance and trimming of Beartooth’s power lines, easements, and rights-of-way near 197 Louis L’Amour Lane, caused the tree growing within or near Beartooth’s easement and right-of-way to contact its energized conductor, providing the ignition source for the Clark Fire,” the plaintiff said in the complaint document.
 
This story was published on Nov. 15, 2022.