A rail car loaded with hazardous materials derailed and caught fire in North Dakota on Friday, the latest train derailment in the United States and keeping concerns about railroads high.
The 29-car Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC)-bound train derailed about 3:45 a.m. in swampy areas surrounded by farmland about 140 miles northwest of Fargo, Foster County Emergency Management Director Andrew Kirking said.
Footage from the scene showed intense flames and thick, black smoke rising high into the clear morning sky, and the fire continued to burn for at least 12 hours after the initial derailment. Mr Kirking said it appeared between 10 and 15 carriages were on fire.
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A rail car loaded with hazardous materials derailed and caught fire in North Dakota on Friday, the latest train derailment in the United States and keeping concerns about railroads high. (Doug Zink/The Associated Press)
Kirking said rescue crews were “actively working” to put out the fire by late Friday afternoon and had “some success” in containing it. Authorities were still working to get equipment close enough to the tracks because they were flooded on both sides.
No injuries were reported, the engineer and conductor escaped safely, and the threat to nearby residents appears to have been minimal.
The cause of the derailment is unknown.
The vehicle was loaded with anhydrous ammonia, sulfur and methanol, with the ammonia being the most dangerous, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, but winds had carried the smoke away from the nearby town of Bordulac, which has about 20 residents.
Health officials say exposure to high levels of ammonia in the air can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract, leading to blindness, lung damage and even death, while exposure to lower concentrations can cause coughing and nose and throat irritation.
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A Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive pulls a train, Monday, March 22, 2021, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Alex Ramadan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the derailment, according to X’s post. CPKC is buying Kansas City Southern Railway for $31 billion in 2021 and aims to build a 20,000-mile rail network connecting the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
“We have activated our emergency response plan and launched a comprehensive and coordinated response,” the CPKC said in a statement.
The incident marks the latest train derailment in the United States as concerns about railroads remain high.
Two weeks ago, a freight train derailed in Matteson, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, forcing some residents within a mile of the accident to evacuate their homes while authorities investigated a car leak containing liquefied petroleum gas.
Train cars pile up after a derailment in Matteson, Illinois, June 27, 2024. Emergency officials ordered evacuations after a freight train derailed in suburban Chicago. (WLS via The Associated Press)
Last March 26, a 70-car CPKC train loaded with hazardous materials derailed about a mile southeast of Wyndmere in Richland County, North Dakota. No injuries were reported.
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Officials said 31 of the 70 cars derailed, some of which were carrying hazardous materials, and crews observed liquid asphalt leaking, but no fires were caused by the derailment.
A month ago, a 38-car Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and forcing residents to evacuate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
