THE CANADIAN PRESS
MCLEAN, Sask. - Police and fire officials in Saskatchewan were investigating how four open rail cars stacked with wooden railway ties caught fire Wednesday, sparking fires along an approximately 20 kilometre stretch of track east of Regina.
RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Carole Raymond said the train was halted just over one kilometre west of McLean, Sask., after the fire was discovered around 1:30 p.m.
She estimated that between 500 and 1,000 railway ties, coated in a flammable creosote preservative, caught fire.
As the burning cars were hauled by a westbound Canadian Pacific Railway train, the flames sparked grass fires along the track between Qu'Appelle and McLean, Raymond said.
"The fires would have been burning in the four cars travelling along the track," she said in an interview from Regina.
"The flames...would have ignited the grass as the train is travelling down the tracks towards McLean."
The grass fires were extinguished by fire crews from Qu'Appelle, Raymond said.
Fire officials said it was expected to take several hours to put the flames out.
Raymond said the burning rail cars weren't posing a risk to the public in the community of just under 300 people.
