The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Train rolls as fire rages

Blaze doused in Carlisle may have started as far south as Trenton, authorities say.

Contributed photo by Martin Wheeler Firefighters spray water on a car of a CSX train in Carlisle on Saturday, March 20.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Fire on train car in Carlisle

Suspect behind bars in beating death
1:48 a.m.
Trailers, RVs provide relief from heat at fairgrounds
1:43 a.m.
Lawyer tries to block evidence in OVI fatality case
1:32 a.m.
Tearful, final farewells given to former editor
1:25 a.m.
Case against man accused of trying to blow up his house goes to grand jury
1:17 a.m.
> More headlines

E-mail this page

Staff report Updated 1:22 AM Sunday, March 21, 2010

CARLISLE — A train fire that may have started as far south as Trenton — about 14 miles away — was extinguished a county away Saturday morning, March 20, near Farmington Road in Carlisle.

“The conductor didn’t know they had a problem,” said Carlisle Interim Fire Chief Krysta Wyatt.

Wyatt said Warren County 911 operators got a call from a motorist who saw the flaming car and alerted CSX Transportation. She said that Butler County 911 also received calls on the situation.

The train came to a stop around 7:30 a.m. with the flaming car near Farmington Road at the northernmost part of Carlisle, she said.

“It was a very difficult fire to extinguish,” Wyatt said. “The train car had metal sides on it that had to be removed while the car was fully involved in flames, so that took about a half-hour.”

Wyatt said that the train car was transporting new minivans and some chassis with cabs, all of which were destroyed.

Fire units from five other surrounding community helped battle the flames, many of them providing water tankers because there were no fire hydrants in the vicinity.

Witnesses reported flames reaching up to 40 feet in the air, and Wyatt said that there were reports of explosions before the train came to a stop, most likely caused by exploding tires.

Fire crews remained on the scene for about four hours.

Share this article