TACOMA, Wash. — State road engineers haven’t decided when to reopen Highway 509 near the Port of Tacoma after a spectacular railroad tanker car fire on December 11 charred the overpass and shut down area roads in all directions, the Seattle Times reported.
State transportation officials must inspect the overpass before it can be reopened to traffic. The main rail line was shut down as well.
Businesses within a six-block area were evacuated as a precaution, said Fire Deputy Chief Gary Schiesz.
The fire began about 3:30 p.m. in a switching yard underneath the highway between East Portland Avenue and the Port of Tacoma. Flames reached about 40 feet, authorities said, creeping over the sides of the bridge as cars drove past before the highway was closed.
Cause of the fire is still not known, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. One of nine linked tanked cars, each carrying from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of denatured alcohol, had burst into flames, Melonas said. The fire then spread to one or two other tankers.
The burning cars were isolated from the rest of the 20-car string that included the nine tank cars, Melonas said.
Denatured alcohol is a fuel additive that made for a spectacular fire, but did not pose any significant health threat from fumes, said Bill Dunbar, an Environmental Protection Agency spokesman.
Both the state Department of Ecology and the federal EPA sent crews to the scene.
No injuries were reported.
Firefighters had contained the fire by about 5:30 p.m.