The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday, June 16, that last year's Mill Fire in Weed, Calif., was caused by "operations" at the Roseburg Forest Products property in Weed.

The fire agency apparently has come to the similar conclusion that Roseburg officials announced last year when they said the company was investigating whether a fire was caused by the possible failure of a water-spraying machine used to cool ash at its veneer mill in Weed. The fire agency, however, did not point to this or any specific operation at the mill, but initially Cal Fire personnel focused their investigation on a wooden warehouse Roseburg used to store hot ash.

Roseburg Forest Products provides the following statement regarding Cal Fire's announcement Friday, June 16, 2023 about its investigation of the Mill Fire that began on the Weed Veneer Plant on Sept. 2, 2022:

"Roseburg's priority is to support our neighbors as they rebuild their homes and the Weed and Lake Shastina communities. Today's CalFire report does not change that. We cooperated fully with the investigation and will thoroughly review the report once we have received it," said Pete Hillan, spokesperson for Roseburg Forest Products.

The company has made the community a priority almost from the start of the conflagration. In September, less than two weeks after the fire, the company began distribution of a $50 million Community Relief Fund to residents affected by the Mill Fire. 

In December, Roseburg announced that it had agreed in principle with four law firms representing the majority of claims to settle the families’ property losses, personal injuries, and wrongful death claims arising from the Sept. 2 Mill Fire.

Pete Hillan, company spokesperson, told WoodworkingNetwork that "The settlement we announced this week [Dec. 13] involves approximately 700 Mill Fire survivors. We continue to work with all survivors and their legal representatives to provide them with the resources they need to complete the recovery and rebuild the Weed and Lake Shastina communities."

The four law firms – Reiner Slaughter Mainzer & Frankel; Parkinson Benson Potter; Singleton Schreiber, and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy – represent more than 700 individuals impacted by the Mill Fire who hold real property and structure damage claims, personal property damage, claims, personal injury claims, bodily injury claims, and wrongful death claims, among other claims.

The Mill Fire sparked near the city of Weed in Siskiyou County, charring 3,935 acres, killing two residents, and destroying more than 115 buildings, most of them homes while damaging dozens more.