train wreck Cassleton, North Dakota

[mitty14u2]

Source: Youtube



Read more:

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*NO INJURIES REPORTED FROM BNSF TRAIN FIRE IN NORTH DAKOTA

Wind is taking toxic smoke towards areas southeast of Casselton, ND, after train derailment. Residents urged to stay indoors

A train has derailed west of Casselton, North Dakota just before 2:20 p.m. Monday. As Valley News Live reports, several area emergency teams are on scene and are setting up an incident command center. Emergency crews are urging people to stay inside and a code red alert has been sent out to residents in a two mile radius of the accident. The Casselton Fire Department says a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train is involved. An unknown number of cars derailed, but Valley News Live reports is told one bulk oil car is on fire and toxic black smoke is being released.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-30/massive-fireball-north-dakota-oil-train-derailment-caught-tape

[Purveyor]

1. MORE: Train Carrying Crude Oil Derails Near Casselton; Residents Urged To Stay Indoors (w/ video)

CASSELTON – The train that derailed about a mile west of town here was eastbound carrying crude oil, according to a BNSF spokeswoman.

Emergency and fire-fighting crews are respond-ing to the derailment, which Amy McBeth, a spokeswoman for BNSF, said occurred at around 2:10 p.m.

McBeth said no crew members on the train were injured during the acci-dent. The train was 106 cars long and headed east-bound, she said.

McBeth said she didn’t know the train’s destination or how many cars derailed.

Sgt. Tara Morris of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office said deputies have been dispatched to the accident, but she said at around 2:40 p.m. that they hadn’t arrived yet and so don’t know the severity of the accident.

Thick, black smoke could be seen from around 15 miles outside of town.

MORE...

http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/91956/

[NutmegYankee]

2. OMG! There was a mushroom cloud!

And now we will watch as those who have embraced the woo start discussing the possibility that the train had a nuke. As opposed to a standard BLEVY (Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) explosion. Don't laugh - this has actually happened before.

[mitty14u2]

3. Train Derailment West of Casselton

From the Cass County Sheriff's Office: A 104 car BNSF Train collided with another train while traveling eastbound approximately one mile west of Casselton, ND. How the collision occurred is unknown at this time.

The east bound train was carrying crude oil. Approximately 10 cars are fully engulfed resulting in heavy smoke in the area. Casselton Fire and the Fargo HazMat Team are currently battling the fire.

This is a HazMat incident. All people and animals within a 10 mile radius of Casselton, ND should find shelter and avoid going outside until the incident and area are deemed safe.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/24329396/train-derailment-west-of-casselton

[penultimate]

4. Looks like a nuclear explosion, must have been carrying nuclear waste....

[Gore1FL]

8. Petroleum. n/t

[happyslug]

9. Some conventional explosions look like that.

In any blast, you have the blast, it goes in all directions. If to close to the ground, it goes up, for it can NOT go down. The blast and smoke goes up till it is stopped by gravity. It still can not go down, for you have more blast coming up behind it, thus the blast and the smoke flows outward and forms the cloud. As the club goes outward more, the smoke dissipates and the other particulars left over from the blast falls to the ground. You can not see the fall from this distance, but it is there, but without any smoke.

Given this is a surface blast, the train cars were on the ground when they exploded, the downward blast tends to bounce upward after hitting the ground, This brings with it a lot of dust particulars. This is all carried upward after the downward blast hits the ground, and finding no place else to go, bounces upward. Thus you have two forces going upward, the initial upward blast and the bounced downward blast.

The side ward blast is also directed upward if there is anything to block the blast's path AND the effect that the higher you go the less dense the air (less Resistance).

Thus you get that mushroom cloud affect. Most times the blasts is NOT big enough (or far enough from the ground) that you do not see it, but it is common when it comes to surface blasts. You see it more with napalm and other flammable explosives then high explosives and given this is fuel and Napalm is gasoline based, not unexpected in a blast like this.

[flying rabbit]

13. I got it. nt

[tofuandbeer]

5. That's awful. I hope they can get it under control for the sake of those residents.

[RC]

6. With all that snow around Cassleton, the fire isn't going anywhere.

The wind in the Eastern part of the state, normally is from the NW. But has been known to come from the SE.
Cassleton only has a population of a little over 2000 people. And that is at night. During the day, maybe five or 600 people. It is approximately 15 miles West of Fargo ND, along I-94.

[Mr.Bill]

7. Great. Now they'll ague they need a pipeline

so this type of accident won't happen.

[daleo]

10. My understanding is that N.D. Oil fields will always require a lot of train and truck transport

I have read that particular wells are not productive for too long, so it is uneconomic to establish the network of feeder lines that would normally be needed to tap these field via pipeline. Plus, they really don't know how long the lifetime of these fields might be. Thus they have depended on rail to a much greater extent than is the norm.

That being said, pipeline backers will use this to push their more generalized agenda, undoubtedly.

[Mr.Bill]

11. Your last sentence

is what I was getting at.

[James48]

12. CNN clip

A good writeup over at the Chicago Tribune right now-

A snip:
""Approximately 10 cars are fully engulfed resulting in heavy smoke in the area," the Cass County sheriff said in a statement at 4:36 p.m., adding that local fire and hazardous material teams were battling the blaze. The sheriff said it was not yet clear how the collision had occurred.

Residents within 10 miles were asked to remain indoors to avoid contact with the smoke.

Casselton City Auditor Sheila Klevgard said crews are pushing snow to contain the oil before it reaches a nearby creek.

Half of the oil cars have been separated from the train, but another 56 cars remain in danger, said Cecily Fong, the public information officer with the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services. The collision destroyed both engines on the oil train. Both trains were operated by BNSF Railway Co, which is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc."

More at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-northdakota-collision-20131230,0,6396202.story

[alp227]

14. Watching the ABC Evening News tonight and noticed one of the photos it showed of the fire

was from ED SCHULTZ's twitter account!

The photo:

https://twitter.com/WeGotEd/status/417773578512121856

The photo in ABC is at 0:25 of this video:

[alp227]

15. Local articles...

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: As oil train burns, 2,300 residents of Casselton, N.D., told to flee

Fargo Forum: Casselton train crash resulting in massive fire prompts call for evacuation

[madrchsod]

16. steel becomes very brittle when the temperature drops below 0.

the low today in fargo was -26 and the high will be around -12. these tracks require constant inspection and it`s impossible to check every car/tanker on these trains.