North Dakota Town Evacuated After Oil Train Derailment

[Domingo Halliburton]

North Dakota town evacuated after oil train derailment
HEIMDAL, N.D. -- The central North Dakota town of Heimdal has been evacuated due to an oil train derailment and fire.

Wells County Emergency Manager Tammy Roehrich says no injuries have been reported. She says the Burlington Northern-Sante Fe Railway train went off the tracks Wednesday morning in a rural area about 2 miles from Heimdal.

The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services confirms 10 rail tank cars are burning near Hamburg following the derailment, CBS affiliate KXMB reports.

State Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong says the train engine and cars that aren't burning have been decoupled and moved to safety.

Regional Hazmat units from Grand Forks and Devil's Lake are also on scene, the station reported.

Roehrich says about 35 people left the town, and are staying with family and friends.

It's unclear how many cars were part of the train, or how many derailed. There's no immediate word on the cause.

The Federal Railroad Administration has sent a 10-person team to investigate the derailment.

"Today's incident is yet another reminder of why we issued a significant, comprehensive rule aimed at improving the safe transport of high hazard flammable liquids," said Acting Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg."The FRA will continue to look at all options available to us to improve safety and mitigate risks."

Last week, U.S. and Canadian transportation officials unveiled sweeping new safety rules, requiring rail tank cars used to transport crude oil and many other flammable liquids to be built to stronger standards to reduce the risk of a catastrophic train crash and fire.

141 oil train derailments and fires in 2014 alone but let's not approve a pipeline.

 

[the cac mamba]

141 train oil train derailments and fires in 2014 alone but let's not approve a pipeline.

think of the animals

 

[88m3]

Either way you cut it we have an infrastructure problem and both are equally dangerous.

If and when a pipeline can be operated relatively safely I support it. Running it through wetlands, rivers, and national parks didn't seem really appealing either.