Early this morning, a railcar fire on Roseville Road in Sacramento led to road closures and evacuations after a railcar transporting telephone poles went ablaze. Sacramento Fire crews arrived to find one railcar on fire, which posed a serious risk due to the adjacent tankers containing ethanol and diesel; this prompted an evacuation of a half-mile radius surrounding the site, as reported by CBS Sacramento.
The blaze not only damaged six vehicles and a trailer in a tow yard but also impacted local vegetation. Although no injuries have been reported, fire officials are conducting an investigation into the fire's origins. While Interstate 80 remained open, Roseville Road had to be closed between Marconi Avenue and Longview Drive. Crews managed to contain the fire, and there was no spread to the neighboring railcars containing combustible materials.
In a separate statement obtained by KCRA3, the Sacramento Fire Department indicated the power was temporarily knocked out for many residents following the fire, which ricocheted into an electrical hazard as power lines were damaged; the fire initially jeopardized a largely industrial area near Del Paso Park. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) outage map showed 1,859 customers lost power due to the incident, with the majority having power restored by early morning.
The response required intensification to a three-alarm fire, summoning additional units to control the situation, Sacramento Valley Railroad, under Patriot Rail, operates the railcar in question and has confirmed that while the fire did not extend to other railcars, a trailer containing lead-acid batteries was among the material harm, no injuries have been tied to this event according to the latest updates from fire officials.
