(The following story by Tony Bizjak appeared on the Sacramento Bee website on April 5.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With freight trains rumbling anew over reconstructed rails at the American River fire site, a visiting railroad official on Tuesday promised his company will move quickly to clean soil contaminated by the blaze.
“We are going to be all over this cleanup,” Union Pacific executive Dennis Duffy told local officials at the site. “We want to get it done as fast as you do.”
The March 15 fire destroyed a creosote-soaked wooden trestle in the American River Parkway.
The second of two tracks reopened over the weekend on a new concrete and steel structure, re-establishing UP’s main goods distribution line between the California coast and the rest of the country.
Welding will continue for several days before site cleanup starts, UP remediation coordinator Mike Grant said.
Grant said as much as 2 feet of soil will be trucked away, a task that could take two months, depending on soil conditions.
Government monitor Antonia Vorster, however, said she will require UP to test soil even deeper, and test a nearby creek, and may require further cleanup.
“We have no idea yet how the groundwater is impacted,” said Vorster of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Vorster walked throughout the site Tuesday. She said she is pleased with UP’s initial plans.
Meanwhile, county park officials said they are talking with UP about creating a temporary bike and running path on a dirt road during site cleanup. UP officials will rebuild the regular trail after cleanup.
Fire officials say they have little to report yet about the cause. Their current focus, they said, is on interviewing witnesses and reconstructing the fire’s path.
As thanks for the work of emergency crews, Union Pacific executives on Tuesday donated $20,000 worth of equipment to the two fire districts that teamed on the fire — the Sacramento Fire Department and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
UP also gave $4,000 grants to four nearby community associations.