Crews have removed all rail cars carrying hazardous materials from the site of a derailment in North Dakota.
Nearly 30 Canadian Pacific Kansas City train cars derailed and caught fire roughly 140 miles northwest of Fargo just before dawn on July 5, according to the Associated Press. No injuries were reported, although the train was carrying ammonia, methanol and plastic pellets. A shelter-in-place notice was issued for residents in the area when ammonia was detected in the air two days later. The notice was lifted later that same day.
The fire from the derailment was mostly put out within 24 hours, while crews were able to remove the cars with the hazardous chemicals by July 8. Responders say that favorable winds also helped carry smoke from the crash away from the closest town. The cause of the derailment is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration.
This comes weeks after the U.S. Department of Transportation finalized a new rule requiring freight railroads to alert first responders in the moments following a derailment about hazard materials on board. That was in response to 2023’s now-infamous Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where firefighters from some departments said it took them up to two hours to get that information.
