Oil cars continue to burn at site of Saskatchewan CP train derailment

Oil tanker cars continue to burn over 24 hours after a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derailed in Saskatchewan.

Thirty-one cars left the track east of Guernsey on Thursday morning. Saskatchewan’s Public Safety Agency said a dozen of those caught fire.

Smoke from the fire forced the evacuation of roughly 80 people from the community to nearby Lanigan.

It led to a sleepless Thursday night for one evacuee.

“I was just thinking, ‘Oh, gee. When do we get to go home? How do I make any plans?’ Wendy Herman said.

“We have some things in the works now and do we have to put it on hold?”

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Saskatchewan’s Environment Ministry said it is overseeing assessment and remediation efforts.

In a statement provided to Global News, the province says CP is responsible for all costs associated with the derailment, including the emergency response, environmental assessment and all required remediation.

CP said it is working with local officials to mitigate the damage and ensure the area is cleaned up once the company “safely recovers from this incident.”

It also said it has deployed claims officers to the area to assist people evacuated by the derailment.

The Saskatoon Fire Department said it is sending a water tanker to the derailment site after receiving a mutual aid request.

It was the second fiery derailment in just under two months near Guernsey.

A CP train hauling crude derailed on Dec. 9, causing 33 oil tank cars and a hopper car to leave the tracks.

The Transportation Safety Board said roughly 1.5 million litres of oil was released.

The federal government said it is monitoring the latest derailment and is implement new safety measures.

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced trains hauling 20 or more cars of dangerous goods will be restricted to speeds of no more than 40 km/h for the next 30 days starting at midnight Friday.

Jack Gibney, the reeve of the Rural Municipality of Usborne where Guernsey is located, said the federal government needs to look more seriously at pipelines to move oil.

Herman agrees.

“It is unreal. We hear the trains all the time because Guernsey is such a small village and we’re not that far from the tracks. We hear it all the time,” Herman said.

“The amount of trains that are going through and the amount of oil carried on those trains is mindboggling.”

Guernsey is roughly 115 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon.