Train Car Burglary Leads to Lithium-Ion Battery Fire in Cajon Pass, CA

Alex Wigglesworth
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

A rail car loaded with lithium batteries caught fire as it was being burglarized in the Cajon Pass early Wednesday, authorities and railroad representatives said.

Crews aboard the BNSF train saw trespassers burglarizing the train, as well as a fire in a container carrying lithium-ion batteries, according to the railway's general director of public affairs, Lena Kent. Authorities haven't said whether the fire and the burglary are related.

Crews immediately stopped the train, and the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District responded, Kent wrote in an email.

County fire officials reported the fire around 3:45 a.m., writing on social media that a single rail car was burning on the tracks near Cajon Boulevard south of Swarthout Canyon Road. Hazmat crews responded and conducted air monitoring, the department said.

Lithium-ion batteries can release flammable and toxic gases as they burn, which can make fires involving them uniquely dangerous and difficult to control.

By 11 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters reported that the burning rail car had been isolated on a single track off the main lines to reduce the risk of fire spread. Suppression equipment was released shortly before 3 p.m., the fire department reported.

The train was traveling from the San Pedro Bay Ports and bound for Chicago, according to Kent.

The railway has robust security protocols and a police department focused on preventing such incidents, she added. "These are not victimless crimes," she wrote, "particularly when many of these packages include much-needed medicine, food, and critical supplies necessary for everyday life."

Cargo thefts have been on the rise in recent years and are believed to have cost the nation's largest rail companies more than $200 million last year, according to estimates compiled by the American Assn. of Railroads.

A string of heists targeting BNSF trains in California and Arizona in 2024 and 2025 resulted in the theft of about $2 million worth of Nike sneakers alone.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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