Freight Car Still Smoldering After Late Night Fire

The cause of the fire is under investigation by Union Pacific.

Burning freight car kept Salem Fire crews busy overnight Photo courtesy: Bill Holmstrom/Salem Fire

(SALEM, Ore.) - Salem firefighters say they arrived at the scene of a train fire Monday night to find a fully involved box car packed with paper products on fire.

Fire Department Spokesman Bill Holmstrom says firefighters worked throughout the night separating the paper materials from the box car in the 3800 block of Portland Road NE.

"The box car has been moved to an auxiliary track so there is no interference to the railroad. To extinguish the fire the box car top had to be removed and the box car tipped on its side."

Holmstrom says all the contents have been removed and water trucks are being prepared to dump large volumes of water on the material in order to completely extinguish.

Information provided the box car belonged to Union Pacific and the contents to the Garten Services Inc.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by Union Pacific. The loss is estimated at over $8,000.

At the time of this release fire crews are still on scene. The cause is under investigation.