The knock came at 11 p.m. Sunday night.*  

“Do you know the barn’s on fire?” a Sanders County Sheriff’s Office deputy asked Kent Newbold.  

“No,” Newbold replied. “If we knew that, we wouldn’t be here." 

The old white dairy barn in question was a beloved landmark in the Paradise community. Built in the 1930s by his wife’s great-great grandfather, the barn sat adjacent to Montana 200, less than a mile south of the intersection with River Road East. 

Newbold alerted his wife, Jill Hermes, and his in-laws, and they evacuated their property for the second time since the River Road East Fire sparked two days earlier on Aug. 18, 2023.  

To this day, locals are convinced it was ignited by a railcar passing over the tracks that cut through Sanders County.

When Newbold and his family returned the following afternoon, all that remained of the barn was a 48-foot silo and a pile of burned scrap metal. The barn was used as a storage space and housed a sawmill, tractor, flatbed trailer, camp trailer and several lawnmowers.  

Nothing could be salvaged. 

“We were just at the fair a couple of weeks ago, and people are still saying, ‘We still can't get over the barn’s gone,’” Newbold said in an interview earlier this month. “We have the community telling us that all the time, which is really kind of sad.”   

Ten plaintiffs launched a lawsuit against BNSF Railway and Montana Rail Link in October 2023, alleging a railcar sparked the 17,310-acre River Road East Fire. The Class II railroad passing through Paradise is owned by BNSF Railway, but at the time of the fire, the tracks were leased by Montana Rail Link. BNSF Railway assumed full operation of the line in 2024. 

Newbold and his wife have since joined the ongoing litigation, which now includes 92 listed plaintiffs representing roughly 40 properties. He estimated between seven and 10 trains pass through the rural town each day, carrying everything from coal to airline parts. 

“The coal trains and the freight trains go by here a lot,” Newbold said, “and you see just clouds of smoke coming out of them.” 

Roughly 30% of their nearly 400-acre property was burned in the fire. Sanders County Sheriff Shawn Fielders reported at least 15 homes and 55 additional structures were destroyed in the flames.  

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Lolo National Forest, said spokesperson Emery Johnson. He could not disclose the total property damage or the process of the investigation. 

Estimated costs to fight the fire totaled $16.1 million, according to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center.  

In the lawsuit’s original complaint, a witness said she spotted a tree on fire within a couple dozen feet of the railroad tracks as she drove down River Road East. The sighting was reportedly made sometime after 1 p.m. on the day the River Road East Fire started.  

A railway crew of several men stood near the fire, recording it with their cellphones, according to the witness. The men made no attempts to extinguish the flames, and a utility or service pickup truck owned by one of the railway companies was on the tracks. No first responders were present. 

In an updated complaint, a second witness floating on the Clark Fork River reported seeing a fire start in the same area on Aug. 18 after a train passed. 

A train went by the suspected ignition site at approximately 1:03 p.m., according to court documents. There was no fire visible on the train’s video recording system. Most locomotives are equipped with outward facing video, said attorney Teague Westrope, who is representing plaintiffs in the suit against BNSF and Montana Rail Link. 

Ten minutes later, an active fire can be seen on the recording system of a second train as it traveled past the area. 

OVERHEATED EQUIPMENT, burning exhaust and sparks from routine track maintenance can all be a potential ignition source when fire danger is high, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The heated elements may ignite dry vegetation along the railroad tracks, and, with enough fuel and oxygen, quickly grow into an uncontrollable blaze. 

That is exactly what the plaintiffs in the lawsuit believe happened in the case of the River Road East Fire. And it is what many residents suspect happened almost exactly two years later, on Aug. 17, 2025, when the Knowles Fire blazed to life a few miles outside of Paradise. 

Ken Nelson recorded a video of what he believes was the start of the Knowles Fire from his property on the other side of the Clark Fork River.  

“The tracks across from our place are on fire,” Nelson notes in the video posted to YouTube. “Nope, I called 911. 911 called the train people. Clearly the railroad ties are on fire.” 

The blaze grew to more than 3,800 acres and burned property owned by some of the same families that saw losses from the River Road East Fire in 2023, according to Westrope. 

Officials fully contained the Knowles Fire on Sept. 6. An investigation into the fire’s origins headed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation remains open.  

Several smaller fires in recent years have been linked to railroad operations in Montana. 

In July 2024, officials managed to smother two small grass fires in Thompson Falls that ignited moments after a train passed along the nearby tracks, according to the Sanders County Ledger. Less than a week later, Powell County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a similar scene along the BNSF Railway-operated tracks between Deer Lodge and Racetrack.  

“I had a deputy that followed the train to an area near Galen where he was able to get the train to pull over and speak with the conductor,” wrote Sheriff Gavin Roselles in an email to the Daily Inter Lake. “Two men aboard the train advised that they were aware of the fires, and that they were being caused by the lead engine shooting sparks out of the exhaust.” 

Officials quelled the flames before they could morph into a full-fledged wildfire, but the next week saw more ignitions along 9 miles of railroad tracks near Livingston. Social media posts attributed to Park County Rural Fire District No. 1 confirmed that the new rash of spot fires were caused by a train and that BNSF Railway officials were among the responding agencies. 

The trend extends along the 32,500 miles of tracks currently operated by BNSF Railway, including sites in California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. 

The Washington Department of Natural Resources concluded that BNSF railroad locomotives started six spot fires in Spokane County, Washington in 2007. The fires ultimately grew into a 365-acre complex, incinerating one home and damaging two others.  

The same year, residents in Skamania County, Washington blamed sparks from a rail grinding operation for starting the 200-acre Broughton Mill Fire, which burned five homes. A resultant lawsuit was dismissed after BNSF Railway reportedly paid out a settlement to three of the affected families. 

In 2023, fire once again sparked along the railroad tracks in Skamania County, forcing hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate. Despite only burning for nine days, the Tunnel Five Fire grew to more than 500 acres and destroyed 10 homes. State fire investigators concluded that a passing BNSF Railway train slung hot exhaust particles or burning wheel lubrication parts into the nearby grass, igniting the blaze.  

Dozens of residents and 11 insurance companies later filed suit against BNSF Railway, alleging that the company acted negligently by operating an outdated locomotive during a time of high fire danger. Litigation is ongoing. 

Farther south, investigators with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management determined that a BNSF Railway track cut during maintenance was responsible for igniting the 2024 Rose Fire, which burned 266 acres near Wickenburg, Arizona. 

A 2023 inspection of BNSF Railway facilities by the Federal Railroad Administration identified 1,455 track defects, as well as 860 freight car defects and 210 locomotive defects. While federal officials noted that they had found no “egregious violations,” the final report stated that BNSF Railway officials often failed to address known defects in a timely manner.  

“There appeared to be a reluctance for track inspectors to report conditions found during inspection runs when the condition required a remedial action in the form of a speed restriction,” wrote officials. 

In Fiscal Year 2024, the Federal Railroad Administration inspectors turned up 51,657 defects in BNSF Railway’s equipment and safety policies. The railroad was initially charged $2,737,400 in civil penalties for violating federal safety regulations. That sum was later decreased to $1,892,052. 

“Generally, fires along our rail line are infrequent, and we take steps to prevent any fire caused by railroad operations,” said BNSF Railway spokesperson Kendall Sloan in an email to the Inter Lake. “In the rare event one does occur, we assist in suppression efforts and help the communities that are affected.” 

The rail company also assists in fire prevention and mitigation efforts by clearing brush and halting hot work activities during periods of high or unpredictable gusts of wind. Other practices include pre-wetting the work environment, designating fire watchers and using canvas or aluminum spark shields to prevent hot sparks from being flung into the surrounding vegetation while welding or grinding. 

Sloan also noted the company stages specially equipped firefighting trains and tank cars filled with water in areas prone to fire conditions.  

“We learn from every incident that occurs on our railroad and remain committed to reducing fire risk along our tracks and equipment,” Sloan said. 

The company declined to comment on specific fires that are currently under investigation, including the River Road East and Knowles fires. 

THE 92 plaintiffs that have filed suit against Montana Rail Link and BNSF Railway for allegedly starting the River Road East Fire tallied damages in the tens of millions of dollars, including incinerated homes, damaged timber and plummeting property values. Most insurance companies require all litigation related to an incident to be settled before they will issue payment, so many plaintiffs have yet to recover any of their financial losses. 

For those without home insurance policies, a payment from BNSF Railway may be the only hope of financial reconciliation.  

Dan and Rosemary Brockman said they tried to secure a policy that covered wildfire for their small vacation cabin outside Paradise, but numerous companies turned them away because the cabin was not located within the boundaries of a designated fire district. They were still searching for a carrier when the River Road East Fire leveled the cabin. 

The Brockmans said they probably won’t rebuild the cabin, even if they do receive compensation through the lawsuit. The memory of the fire is simply too painful. 

When the River Road Fire East ignited, the Brockmans were in South Dakota, caring for Dan’s sick father. Dan's mother had died a few weeks earlier, marking the fourth death in the family that year. 

“That was the year I thought I might get hit by a meteor,” Dan said. 

Then, Dan got a call from his neighbor in Paradise. The neighbor was crying, but Dan didn’t remember feeling much emotion when he heard that the cabin he had spent 13 years building was gone.  

“I was pretty numb, you know, when I found out about the cabin,” he said. “That was just like the biggest kick that I think I’ve ever had in my life.” 

More than two months later, after his father died and his parents’ house had been packed away, Dan drove to the property to see the damage for himself. Just as his neighbor had said, the cabin was completely incinerated. 

The trees that had once supplied endless ammo for family pinecone fights had been scorched black. In some places, the fire blazed so hot that even the roots burned, leaving huge pockmarks in the ground. 

“Our memories burnt down when the fire burned it down,” Dan said. “You go up there...It doesn’t feel that good.” 

Once a haven, the property is now a stark reminder of just how much damage a single spark can do. 

Judge Jason Marks is presiding over the lawsuit in Missoula District Court. There are no hearings currently scheduled.

*This story was updated to say the Sanders County Sheriff's Office deputy knocked on Kent Newbold's door to alert him and his family about the barn fire. 

Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected]. Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected].

    Smoke from the River Road East Fire can be seen less than a mile northwest from Kent Newbold's home near Paradise on the afternoon of August 18, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Kent Newbold)
  

    Video recorded by a Montana Rail Link train near East River Road at about 1:03 p.m. on August 18, 2023. (Photo courtesy of court documents)
  

    Video recorded by a Montana Rail Link train near East River Road at about 1:15 p.m. on August 18, 2023. (Photo courtesy of court documents)
  

    The 2025 Knowles Fire started near railroad tracks owned by BNSF that run along the Clark Fork in Sanders County. (Hailey Smalley/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    The River Road East Fire started near railroad tracks owned by BNSF. In 2023, the tracks were operated by Montana Rail Link. (Hailey Smalley/Daily Inter Lake)