Watch: Residents allowed to return home, but what’s next? Wendy Winieski reports.
WADENA, Sask. – Many questions remain unanswered as recovery operations are underway at the scene of a train derailment in Saskatchewan.
The situation was described as stable as the provinces’ emergency response team remains at the scene where 26 cars from a CN freight train jumped the tracks Tuesday morning just outside of Clair.
CN is moving product from the damaged cars and an assessment has confirmed none of the cars were leaking.
An incident action plan will remain in place until the end of the day.
There were concerns over air quality as thick smoke from a fire fuelled by two petroleum distillates cars billowed in the air.
“Throughout the incident, CN and the unified command team conducted air quality testing,” said Ralph Bock from the Ministry of Environment.
“There have been no reports of any contaminants above any caution levels.”
Of concern was the possibility of volatile hydrocarbons in the air.
“Air monitoring will continue until the incident is concluded,” assured Bock, who stated there have been no measurable hydrocarbons in the air.
Testing of the water supply will also be carried out, with the cost covered by CN for those wanting to ensure their water is safe.
Visual surveys will also be carried out to see if there are any residual effects from the smoke.
Watch below: Raw video of the train derailment near Clair, Sask.
The fiery derailment forced the evacuation of 50 people from Clair overnight. That was lifted after the all-clear was given this morning.
“There is no risk to the public now,” Wadena fire Chief Harold Narfason said.
“There’s no concerns about pollutants in the air. Everything is falling into place quite nicely.”
Narfason said the decision to lift the evacuation order was made jointly by fire, emergency response and CN officials.
Once recovery operations are complete, the question of what happened will need to be answered.
Watch: Is the government doing enough to ensure rail safety?
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has sent out three people to investigate the cause. Operator error has already been ruled out.
Area resident Adrian Hrappsted said that work had been done recently on the section of track where the derailment occurred and she is concerned about the structural integrity of the rail line.
She told Global Saskatoon the tracks are not in good shape, especially where the train cars went off the tracks.
“They are in need of some upkeep and repair,” she said.
“If you drive up and down and look at the intersections, they’re in poor condition.”
CN spokesman Jim Feeny said maintenance happens regularly on the tracks.
“We’re on the track all the time. The track was visually inspected Monday, the day before the incident, and it was found to be clear. There were no exceptions noted. The track was in safe operating condition.”
“Our maintenance forces are up and down that track on a daily basis. It’s very possible somebody could have been doing something there, but we can’t really draw any conclusions from that.”
Feeny said the train was going within the speed limit of 40 km/h when it derailed. One engineer and one conductor were on board. They were not hurt.
In August, the Transportation Safety Board issued a report into the Lac-Megantic tragedy that called for improved safety measures and cited inadequate oversight by Transport Canada. One of the criticisms brought forward was a lack of inspections.
With files from The Canadian Press
Watch: Raw video shot by Ron Fogg of the train derailment near Wadena, Sask. on Oct. 7, 2014
Comments