Being a volunteer fire department in a transportation corridor sometimes presents some interesting challenges.
The Yale Fire Department was called out to chase down a train reported by a trucker this morning to have flames shooting from its secondary engine.
With the TransCanada highway running parallel to the Canadian National Railway line, the truck driver reportedly drove side by side with the front engine, frantically waving at the engineer in an attempt to warn him of the danger.
Smoke followed the tracks from north of Hope to near Yale, where the engineer had pulled the train over into a rail siding; its rear cars within feet of the front doors of the Yale fire station.
Yale fire fighters arrived at the front of the train to find flames shooting out of the second engine.
It appears that an oil leak in the engine ignited the inside of the engine compartment, reports Yale fire chief Rudy Kehler.
The fire crew used water to extinguish the flames, bringing down the temperature of the metal inside the engine compartment, and foam to disperse the oil.
The tanker cars following the train’s two engines were empty and posed no danger, added Kehler.