Feb. 29--
SUNBURY -- A maintenance train traveling through Sunbury at 20 mph Tuesday ignited more than 20 spot fires along the tracks, causing firefighters grief for nearly an hour.
Dry weather and a Loram train, which is used for grinding down the rails, combined to cause the problem, city Fire Chief Mike Rhoads said.
Rhoads said he received a call at about 1 p.m. that several brush fires had popped up along the tracks through the city and that Norfolk Southern was performing routine maintenance on the line.
A Loram machine has 108 grinders and is used to extend the life of the tracks and wheels on trains. The machine is followed by a water car to control sparks; however, the Loram got ahead of the water car and sparks shot off, igniting weeds near the tracks, Rhoads said.
As railroad crews scrambled to catch up, firefighters began to arrive and extinguish the fires, he said.
"With the dry weather and not having water, these things just started to appear," Rhoads said. "We got there and got a handle on what was going on and took care of the problem."
Rhoads said railroad crews got the situation under control, and within an hour, the fires had been extinguished.
"Everything was handled properly," he said. "These guys all did a great job." Rhoads said the Loram train was headed to Northumberland.
Assisting were the Sunbury Fire Department, an Upper Augusta brush truck and a Snyder County engine.
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Copyright 2012 - The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
