The federal government is suing a Southern Oregon cattle ranch for $14 million, saying ranch machinery started a wildfire in the summer of 2018 that burned more than 59,000 acres.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Medford against the J-Spear Ranch in Klamath Falls.

The lawsuit alleges that an all-terrain vehicle driven by a ranch employee started the Watson Creek Fire, which torched 59,061 acres of land largely in Klamath and Lake counties, including 45,928 acres of federal timberland.

The damages sought by the government include costs of suppressing the fire, losses of timber and structures, and costs to restore and rehabilitate wildlands in the wake of the fire that started in an area where the ranch had responsibility through its cattle grazing permit.

The grazing permit included language ordering the business to take “all reasonable precautions” to prevent and “make diligent efforts to suppress” wildfires, according to a contract signed by the ranch and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in April 2016.

On Aug. 15, 2018, an employee started the fire while riding a 2012 Honda Four-Trax Rancher 4×4 ATV that belonged to the ranch, according to the lawsuit filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Gowen McClurg.

“The ATV’s exhaust generated so much heat that it caused built-up combustible fuels on the ATV’s undercarriage and ground fuels to ignite,” the lawsuit states.

Citing claims of negligence, fire damage liability, public nuisance and breach of contract, the government’s lawsuit states that the ranch operated and maintained the ATV “in a negligent manner,” because the ranch failed to inspect the gasoline-powered vehicle and remove dried vegetation and debris from its underside.

Further, the ranch failed to supply employees with any fire-suppression equipment during “peak wildfire season.”

“The Watson Creek fire was an incident of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of someone’s negligence,” McClurg wrote. “The Watson Creek fire was caused by negligent activity within the control of J-Spear.”

The government says the U.S. Forest Service sent the ranch a “written demand for payment of the costs incurred by the United States” last November, and as of June 16 the ranch “has not paid the United States the costs set forth in the demand letter.”

A court filing Monday showed that the ranch has retained a Portland lawyer to fight the lawsuit, but as of Wednesday the ranch had not responded to the allegations.