Train Engine Fire Causes Evacuations in Townsend, MT

Some residents were temporarily evacuated after the engine of a train carrying oil caught fire in southwestern Montana on Tuesday night. No one was injured in the fire on the front engine of a Montana Rail Link train, which started at about 8:15 pm. in Townsend, MT.

Multiple fire crews responded and put the fire out. Broadwater County Sheriff Wynn Meehan told KTVH-TV that people who lived nearby were evacuated because the train was hauling oil and because it was dark. He said railroad crews responded and disabled the engine. According to KTVH-TV, Sheriff Meehan wrote on Facebook that the train posed no immediate threat, and requested patience from Silos Area residents as crew members from Broadwater County's emergency services and Montana Rail Link cleaned up the scene.

KTVH-TV published a full account of the incident here.