GRAYLING -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed criminal charges against a downstate rail company he says is responsible for starting a massive fire 2 years ago near Grayling.
The fire broke out in April of 2008. It burned 13-hundred acres of forest, several homes, buildings and caused nearly a million dollars in damage.
Mike Cox says it and another fire in Arenac County were started by a train engine that threw burning embers from the exhaust system.
It was owned by Lake State Railway of Saginaw.
Cox says the system was not equipped with the standard safety equipment called sparks arresters... and Lake State Railway knew about it.
If convicted the company could have to pay big fines and full restitution.
