(The following report appeared on The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review website on May 17.)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — No one was injured when firefighters battled a locomotive engine fire in Derry Township Tuesday.
The fire began around 9:10 p.m. in an engine of one of two diesel-electric locomotives of a freight train on tracks near Gray Station Road, according to the Blairsville Volunteer Fire Company.
Fire crews first had to cool diesel fuel tanks with fire-retardant foam while awaiting information from Norfolk Southern personnel on what materials might be involved, said Dan Stevens, spokesman for the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.
A Westmoreland County hazardous materials team was called to the scene because the engine uses large batteries.
With help from fire crews from the Eastern Derry Township and Derry Borough volunteer departments, the fire was contained around 11:45 p.m., Stevens said.
“The train’s engineer and conductor worked with the fire crews and the hazmat team to put the fire out,” Stevens said. “Everything went very well.”
Fire crews discovered that the freight cars closest to the burning engine were empty.
The railroad tracks were closed for three hours, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband. Norfolk Southern has yet to determine the cause of the fire, Husband said.
The train, consisting of 87 cars carrying mixed freight, was en route from Delaware to Beaver County.