ROCKWOOD, Maine — A fire chief involved in the response of Saturday’s CPKC derailment in a remote area of northern Maine says it was an ‘absolute miracle’ the three crew members were not more seriously injured.
The three crew members were reported to have suffered minor injuries in a derailment and fire involving three locomotives and nine railcars near Rockwood [see “Three hurt as CPKC train derails …,” Trains News Wire, April 15, 2023].
WMTW-TV reports that Bill Jarvis is chief of the Jackman-Moose River Fire & Rescue Department, located about 20 miles from the derailment scene. Jarvis said one of the crew members told him the train was going about 35 mph when they “could suddenly see the rail still there but with the washout they knew nothing was underneath the rail, and they knew there was nothing they could do, and the lead locomotive they were in went right down. …
“They went for quite a ride and it is very fortunate they were able to get out because the damage the locomotive sustained, how quickly it stopped, the other cars coming behind it hitting it, [and] the lumber cars that started piling up on top of it and caught fire,” Jarvis said. “They had to break out a side window because the locomotive was laying on its side and were able to get out and walk away. It is a praise God moment.”
The derailed cars were carrying lumber and wire, but the Portland Press Herald reports other cars in the consist included ethanol and pentamethylheptane, a highly flammable and toxic chemical used in cosmetics.
