Train derails near Bakersfield, toxic cloud forces evacuations

Train derails, toxic cloud forces evacuations

KEENE, Calif. — Several California homes remained evacuated Sunday after the car of a freight train that derailed near a small town burned and choked the area with thick, black smoke.

A day after the derailment, about seven homes were evacuated and the residents of 30 other houses were advised to stay indoors with the windows closed, said Kern County Fire Department Engineer Justin Corley.

There were no serious injuries in the derailment about 9:30 p.m. Saturday near Keene, about 15 miles east of Bakersfield.

Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins said earlier that the homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution after a toxic cloud surged from the flames. A temporary shelter was set up at Tehachapi High School for evacuees.

“The car that’s burning is putting out a heavy, dark smoke,” Corley said. “We’re asking most residents just to shelter in place, with windows and doors closed, while our crews try to extinguish the flames.”

Two of the long freight train’s cars went off the Union Pacific tracks at a tunnel entrance on the well-known Tehachapi Loop south of Keene.

A train car carrying plastic pellets caught fire. When the blaze did not burn out overnight, the evacuation order was extended Sunday to a 2-mile radius, Corley said.

About 20 firefighters fought the blaze, which was confined to the tunnel entrance.

A temporary shelter set up at Tehachapi High School was closed Sunday.

Firefighters were being assisted by the Kern County Environmental Health Agency, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol.