Western Railroad Discussion > Oil train derailment and fire

A crude oil train has derailed 3 to 5 tank cars near Custer, Washington north of Seattle. Evacuation ordered due to smoke. No wind has smoke going straight up. Details to follow.
Bill Pyper
Lacey, WA


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/20 13:00 by wjpyper.

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Here's a local news link for this.  Another derailment due to the heavy rain for the couple of days?

Evacuations ordered after train carrying crude oil derails in Whatcom County | king5.com

"BNSF Railway has confirmed that a train carrying crude oil derailed in Custer, Wash., around 11:40 a.m. on Dec. 22. Initial reports indicate that between three to five tank cars derailed and there are reports of a fire toward the end of the train. BNSF is working with local authorities to assess and mitigate the situation. The cause of the incident is under investigation. Our first priority is dealing with any safety issues. We will provide additional details as they become available."
 

No injuries = good

Posted from Android

You know the protesters are going to have a field day with this one....

coach Wrote:
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> You know the protesters are going to have a field
> day with this one....

mmmm..right close to where some folks were arrested for protesting oil trains, too.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coach Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You know the protesters are going to have a
> field
> > day with this one....
>
> mmmm..right close to where some folks were
> arrested for protesting oil trains, too.
>
> TAW

According to the complaint they were protesting an oil pipeline, unless there was another incident. That makes this more ironic since the alternative to an oil pipeline is a bunch of oil trains.

Custer is where the spur takes off to the ARCO refinery on Cherry Point. I believe the train was heading into there when the derailment happened.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coach Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You know the protesters are going to have a
> field
> > day with this one....
>
> mmmm..right close to where some folks were
> arrested for protesting oil trains, too.
>
> TAW

Yes, you don't normally see this kind of statement with every train derailment..

"FBI Seattle issued the following statement Tuesday, "Investigators are on the scene assisting local partners to determine the facts of what happened. At this point, it would be speculative to connect other events with this incident. FBI Seattle encourages anyone with knowledge of the train derailment to contact (fbi)."  

Interesting to have two train derailments in Western Washington in two days. I wonder if this oil train was weather related like the one in Montesano was on Monday.

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coach Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You know the protesters are going to have a
> field
> > day with this one....
>
> mmmm..right close to where some folks were
> arrested for protesting oil trains, too.
>
> TAW

Is that the same protesters that were shunting the signals?

BAB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TAW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > coach Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > You know the protesters are going to have a
> > field
> > > day with this one....
> >
> > mmmm..right close to where some folks were
> > arrested for protesting oil trains, too.
> >
> > TAW
>
> Is that the same protesters that were shunting the
> signals?

I would imagine these are who is being thought of, but aren't they in jail awaiting trial?

Robert

EricSP Wrote:
-----------------------------------------------------
> According to the complaint they were protesting an
> oil pipeline, unless there was another incident.
> That makes this more ironic since the alternative
> to an oil pipeline is a bunch of oil trains.

I think you may be referring to the pipeline protests in North Dakota 4 years ago. The ND weather broke that up. lol

Bismarck Bill

From the link on this thread...

"According to the criminal complaint, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has been investigating the placement of shunts on the BNSF tracks since Jan. 19“Since January, there have been 41 incidents of shunts placed on the BNSF tracks in Whatcom and Skagit counties—causing crossing guards to malfunction, interfering with automatic braking systems, and, in one case, causing the near-derailment of tanks of hazardous chemicals,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran."

bmarti7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EricSP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> ---
> > According to the complaint they were protesting
> an
> > oil pipeline, unless there was another
> incident.
> > That makes this more ironic since the
> alternative
> > to an oil pipeline is a bunch of oil trains.
>
> I think you may be referring to the pipeline
> protests in North Dakota 4 years ago. The ND
> weather broke that up. lol
>
> Bismarck Bill

No, I am referring to the two women arrested a few weeks ago in the Seattle area for tampering with the tracks.