Train derails near Bakersfield, toxic cloud forces evacuations as stubborn blaze continues

Ca. train derails, toxic cloud forces evacuations

KEENE, Calif. — Several homes in central California remained evacuated Sunday after the car of a freight train that derailed at a tunnel entrance 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.

Two cars from the long Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. freight train went off 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.

Fire officials did not expect to have the unruly blaze contained until midnight.

The fire on the derailed cars was put out, but the flames spread into the tunnel, where it was proving difficult to douse them.

Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins said 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.”

The train was bound for Stockton from Barstow, BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said. It was not immediately clear what sparked the fire.

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