Photos courtesy of Kelly and Jimmy Mize
By Erin Smith
Firefighters spent the night battling a fire on a railroad car on Monday night near Clarkton. The section of tracks near McKee Road and NC 211 were closed to trains for about 6 to 8 hours, according to Bladen County Fire Marshal Kenneth Clark.
The fire was reported at 5:11 p.m., according to Clark.
“Apparently, a train car filled with crossties some how caught on fire,” said Rusty Marsh of the incident.
Bladen County Fire Marshal Kenneth Clark said, “It wasn’t an issue with the tracks. It was the boxcar itself (that experienced a problem).”
Clark said there was an issue with the floor of the boxcar that may have led to the fire.
“There is no damage to the tracks,” said Clark.
The train was stopped on the tracks near McKee Road and NC 211 as the car was burning. At some point during the night, the rail car was removed from the tracks and laid on its side to allow firefighters to remove the burning crossties and eventually extinguish the blaze.
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