By Steve Hubrecht
Canadian Pacific Rail (CP Rail) grinding resulted in a small blaze that left a burn mark by the tracks in Invermere, according to the now-complete Invermere Fire Rescue report.
“It is felt that the fire was sparked by their (CP Rail’s) grinding machine,” said Invermere Mayor Al Miller.
A burn mark adjacent to the tracks along the western shore of Lake Windermere, south of Walker’s Lane, was discovered by Invermere resident Nadine Hale on March 30, giving rise to concern among those living in the south end of the district.
Invermere Fire Rescue investigated the burn on April 4 (as reported in last week’s Pioneer) but could not complete the report without input from CP Rail. The company has since given that input and indicated that the burn was probably a result of its grinding.
CP Rail also seems to have put out the blaze almost as soon as it ignited, said Miller.
“They have a crew that follows behind the grinding, and put out any spot fires that result, which it appears they did,” he explained.
The District of Invermere was unable to share the report directly with The Pioneer under Freedom of Information laws.
Invermere Fire Rescue Chief Jason Roe told The Pioneer that although the Invermere fire department can’t say with 100 per cent certainty that the grinding caused the fire, a pull tab from a fire extinguisher was found at the site.
“That got us to thinking that CP actually extinguished the fire,” he said.
CP confirmed it had done grinding in that area two weeks before Hale found the burn, said Roe.
Miller added that because such spot fires happen often “they (CP Rail) don’t do a report after every incident. It (small fires sparked by grinding) is something that happens frequently across different lines. That’s why they are always watching for sparks,” he said.
Miller said the burn was “not nice to see” and understandably concerning, but added he was glad to learn that CP has protocols in place to deal with any fires it creates.
“The grinding does need to be done. It tunes up the track and helps shape the rails to the proper form,” he said. He added that even though he knows the practice is necessary, community safety should be paramount.
“I have seen it (the grinding) before. If it is happening at night it is very visible, because it does create a lot of sparks,” said Miller.
The Pioneer sought comment from CP Rail on its safety and reporting protocols, trying to find out what the suppression vehicle is like, what size it is, how many crew members it contains and what equipment they have. But the company did not respond before press deadline.
Roe said he wasn’t exactly sure about those details either, but added that suppression vehicles, crew and equipment vary in size and scope depending on the level of wildfire risk at a given time.
He echoed Miller’s sentiments, saying “I’m glad to know there is a process in place to ensure these things don’t get out of control.”
Hale was less assured.
“My question is: at what point would CP report them (spot fires) to the local fire department?”
She was also frustrated that her efforts to get information from CP Rail resulted in no answers at all.
“I think there could be more transparency from CP and public reporting on these kinds of incidents. There should be a process in place for that,” said Hale.
Had such a system been in place “there wouldn’t have been any community alarm, like there was. We were left speculating,” she said.
The fact that CP didn’t even seem quickly able to say for certain that it had caused the fire could indicate that there may not even be much internal reporting within the company, Hale said.
“There still seems to be some assumptions around what happened. That’s unsettling,” she added.