Railroad Box Car Catches Fire in Albany Rail Yard

The cause of this fire has been determined to be accidental

The Albany Fire Department responded to the Willamette Pacific Freight Yard, 725 Waverly DR NE, in Millersburg at approximately 11:07 a.m. on Monday, to a report of a fire in a parked railroad box car. Photo: Salem-News.com

(ALBANY, Ore. ) - The Albany Fire Department responded to the Willamette Pacific Freight Yard, 725 Waverly DR NE, in Millersburg at approximately 11:07 a.m. on Monday, to a report of a fire in a parked railroad box car.

When firefighters arrived at the scene in about eleven minutes they found a single railroad box car fully involved in fire and saw that an additional railroad car was attached on both ends.

Firefighters initiated a first alarm response for additional personnel due to the potential for exposure of other rail cars and requested water tenders (tankers) to respond because the railroad yard is remote from any fire hydrants.

Firefighters quickly determined the burning box car contained bales of recycled paper and that the two attached railroad cars did not contain any hazardous products. Fire fighters were able to isolate the burning railroad box car with the assistance of railroad yard personnel, who were able to detach and move away the adjacent railroad cars.

Firefighters, with the assistance of railroad yard personnel, unloaded the burning bales of paper from the railroad box car and extinguished the fire. This effort was labor intensive and firefighters are expected to remain on scene for several hours.

The fire was reported by a contract worker attempting to gain entry into the rail box car which is owned by Georgia Pacific. The worker attempted to loosen the box car's locking system with a heat source, noticed the fire and called 911.

Twenty-two fire department personnel responded to this emergency call including personnel from Jefferson and Tangent Fire Districts. Off duty Albany Fire Fighters, and fire fighters from Lebanon Fire District and the Corvallis Fire Department, also responded to the city to handle subsequent emergency calls during this incident.

The cause of this fire has been determined to be accidental and the dollar loss has been estimated to be up to $120,000 ($70,000 for the cardboard; $50,000 for the rail car).

There were no injuries to civilian personnel or fire fighters reported as a result of this incident.

Source: Albany Fire Department