Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Spokane-based fire train is shown above at a small fire in Indian Canyon this spring. Deployment of the train on last month's Fish Lake fire provided need replenishment of water supplies in the field.
One of the units used on the Fish Lake fire June 17 was a unit some people may not know existed, others may have forgotten existed and most might not ever see - a fire train.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas said when the fire broke out the railroad dispatched its fire train based in Spokane to the blaze. The 4-5-car train features three flat cars loaded with a total of 11 tanks carrying 3,100 gallons of water.
Melonas said each train is mounted with hose sprayers that can be used to directly fight fires. The trains also have the capability of transferring water to other fire...
Reader Comments(0)