A very large trestle in Sacramento is on fire. This is the trestle on the far side of the river north of Elvis. The entire length is burning. Some places are starting to collapse. Rails are buckling. 100 firefighters on seen. All three major channels covering the story with helicopter shots from channel 10. Here's some links I've borrowed from elsewhere: Will try and bring you all more stories as available. This will cause some major rerouting for some time it looks like. reroute possibilities:
I'm currently switching between the three channels watching all the footage. They are fully expecting major collapsing. Firefighting efforts have been underway for at least the last hour starting at Johnston behind REI on the north end.
The fire started about 5:45pm tonight. The whole length of the wood trestle is burning. The smoke is blowing East/NorthEast. (We can smell it here where I live). The Amtrak Capitol Corridor and any other Amtrak train that runs East of Sacramento will not run tomorrow. The line is 2 track. UP says it's going to definately impact service. At the moment, the trestle is collapsing in segments. Wonder what UP will replace the old wood structure with?
Yep, just watching collapsing. Probably a huge cement structure will replace it. Smoke column was visible from here but now its night
Just a guess but probably around nearly 70 to 100 yrs?? Two fireboats are in the river trying to protect the steel bridge itself with huge streams of river water.
I'm also listening to the UP dispatching on Live Railroad Scanner Radio at http://www.railroadradio.net/index.php West Sac channel but am not hearing much. Trestle is definately a gonner. Lots of talk about the creosote smoke. Will probably burn most of the night. They are trying to keep sections put out from re-igniting cause of the heat.
Indiana University is playing sacrmento! They said on the local news its causing problems. They just said that the bruck has caught on fire
It was VERY impressive when they showed the entire length on fire!! News is just repeating itself alot now and showing footage from earlier and current helicopter footage which just shows flames in the black of night. Most worries now are about the toxic smoke.
Made our news tonight too and the short video they aired definitely showed not much left and still burning at that point.
Yeah when the big tanker derailment happen hear thats all they did is reapet therself. I hope everything will be OK!
Fire has not spread to nearby vegitation nor the bridge itself. They are also worried about the fibreoptics conduit that runs the length of this structure. They just stated they are not trying to put out the section that collapsed cause it is too hot. Work continues on the rest of it though.
Train testle fire in Sacramento, CA www.kcra.com/news/11265140/detail.html www.nbc4.tv/news/11265166/detail.html www.nbc11.com/news/11265124/detail.html Everything East of Sacramento, CA. All passenger trains suspended and UP freight !!! Days before it is put out due to ancient wood soaked in creasote.
I've heard UP already has heavy equipment on scene to dispose of the remains and start rebuilding. They say they have a system of rebuilding that should have the line open in 3 to 5 weeks.
Last I heard, they havn't started the investigation into the cause but highly speculated it was a homeless persons campfire.
The Sacramento Bee: FIRE DESTORYS CRITICAL RAIL LINE: SERVICE ON CAPITOL CORRIDOR TRAINS DISRUPTED SACRAMENTO, CA -- A dramatic evening fire Thursday along the American River Parkway near Cal Expo destroyed a Union Pacific mainline track, sending billowing black smoke thousands of feet into the blue skies, and disrupting train traffic through the Central Valley. The hot-burning fire, first reported at 17:41, quickly consumed about 600 feet of heavy-duty trestle timber and tracks in a secluded section of the American River Parkway, just north of the American River. Slowed by the lack of traditional access to water in the area, firefighters from the Sacramento City Fire Department and Sacramento Metro Fire District relied on relay-pumping from hydrants in developed areas on the north side of the parkway levee near Cal Expo. As night fell and firefighting continued, the blaze was toppling burned sections of the 25-foot-high rail trestle and showed little sign of dying down. Union Pacific officials confirmed Thursday night that the destroyed track was one of the company's main freight lines between Sacramento and points east, as well as a major passenger corridor for local commuter and long-distance trains. The blaze forced Amtrak to halt a westbound train from Reno to Sacramento, George Elsmore, railroad operations and safety program manager for the California Public Utilities Commission, told the Associated Press. It threatened to cause further disruptions, he said. About 130 passengers aboard the California Zephyr had to stop in Roseville Thursday night because of the fire. All those passengers were transferred to buses and taken to their destination, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole. "Passengers on the California Zephyr are going to get where they are going," Cole said. The next train is scheduled to come through Auburn at 06:35. A bus will be waiting to take passengers from there to Sacramento, where they will catch a new train to their final destination, Cole said. He said he believed bus service would also be available for other stations between Auburn and Sacramento. A statement on the website of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority said bus service will be available between Auburn and Sacramento, and that it would run until the tracks are repaired. Though he said it was impossible to be certain, Cole said Amtrack is "not anticipating any lengthy backups." Union Pacific, not Amtrak, will be repairing the tracks, Cole said. "This is a long-term situation. It's not one or two days. It's at least a couple weeks," he said. Capitol Corridor officials alerted passengers that train service between Sacramento and Auburn will be out of operation, but buses will be called in beginning this morning to transport passengers. Rail officials canceled weekday trains 529 and 536, and weekend trains 729 and 736. Thursday night at the scene, Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Jim Doucette said officials did not yet know the cause of the fire, although there were some early reports that a portion of the trestle had been pushed upward, as if there had been an explosion. "Way too early to figure that out," Doucette said. "We're shuttling water back and forth, and we're making some headway." However, he said, "The whole bridge will be a loss. I fully expect it to collapse." UP spokesman James Barnes said there were no initial reports of injuries and there was no train on the tracks at the fire site. "It certainly is one of our main lines," Barnes said. "We are anticipating that the trestle will not survive. The important thing now is to get that fire under control and out, and then we can better assess the situation. We won't know for several hours what that means in terms of rerouting (frieght trains)." The fire on the trestle, several hundred yards west of the Capitol City Freeway, caused backups for several miles during the late evening rush hour. The smoke plume was reportedly seen from 50 miles away. - Tony Bizjak, The Sacramento Bee, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr
