CP issued a statement that said the company had dispatched a team to the site but it did not say what type of cargo the train was carrying.Trehia May Stevenson/Supplied
A small Alberta community was ordered to evacuate Friday after a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailment sparked a fire and raised fears of “chemical exposure.”
CP confirmed the train derailed at about 3:20 p.m. just east of Irvine, located near Medicine Hat about a three-hour drive southeast of Calgary. CP issued a statement that said the company had dispatched a team to the site but it did not say what type of cargo the train was carrying.
There were no reports of injuries.
A notice posted by the Alberta government’s emergency alert system cited chemical exposure as it announced an evacuation zone with a radius of seven kilometres, including the entire community of Irvine. The community is home to about 300 people.
The notice also said the derailment damaged the rail line and was disrupting highway access, including the closing of the Trans-Canada Highway. Residents were told to report to an evacuation reception centre in nearby Dunmore.
“There are some flammable cargo so the fire chief, using an abundance of caution, has evacuated the area until they can sort out what the best way to manage this is,” RCMP Sergeant Marlene Brown said.
Trehia May Stevenson was returning from Regina to her home in Lethbridge when she drove past the tangle of rail cars along the side of the highway. She said it appeared as though 10 to 12 cars had come off the track; at least one had caught fire, as well as grass along the track.
“When I pulled past, it was still fresh, the police weren’t there. A few guys were running out of their trucks to put out the fire," Ms. Stevenson, 25, said in an interview. “It looked pretty piled up.”
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