Train Fire Stalls Rail Traffic Near Columbia Falls

A Burlington Northern locomotive caught fire on Sunday and shut down rail traffic near Columbia Falls. Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen says his team responded to the blaze at around two p.m.

"They had a lead locomotive on a freight train and a fire in the engine compartment," Hagen said. "The engine crew dispensed all of the extinguishers they had on hand. They couldn’t quite get it out, so they called 9-11 and we were dispatched."

The fire was apparently sparked by a mechanical failure that ended up causing what Hagen described as “catastrophic engine failure.”

"This was the lead engine, there was another engine behind that," Hagen said. "We had a main line through there. We had to set the other trains and once we made sure that happened we could pull that line across the track, and it didn’t take long to get it out once we had water on it."

The fire crew was able to keep the blaze contained to the engine, and no one was injured.