VIDEO > Othello Richards reports

NEAR CHENEY -- A 350-acre wildfire that eventually destroyed one house and several out buildings near Cheney last August was started by sparks from a passing BNSF freight train.

The Marshall Fire sent a plume of grey smoke to the sky in the late afternoon hours of August 11th.

KREM 2

It took fire crews several days to get control and containment of the blaze.

Although people living near the fire suspected it had been started by a train since day one, it took a recently released report from the Department of Natural Resources to officially point the finger at BNSF.

The report states a single train, with a problem on one of the locomotives, sparked five separate fires in the area that day, that quickly grew into the Marshall Fire.

The total bill expected to be sent to BNSF is in the neighborhood of a half-million dollars.