Windsor fire crews battle a small fire along the train tracks near the E.C. Row Expressway and Lauzon Road - 5 Apr 2013 Adam D'Andrea.

5 April 2013

Grass and Field Fires Along CP Rail Tracks Stretching from Windsor to Lakeshore

Windsor Ontario - Firefighters from three municipalities are on the scene along the railway tracks south of EC Row in the east end of the city where numerous grass fires have broken out, halting freight train traffic.
 
"There's all kinds of them," Lakeshore fire chief Don Williamson said. It's impossible to know just how many spot-fires there are, he said.
 
Williamson said the patches of fire might have been caused by a freight train's wheel throwing sparks and causing the grass and at least 10 piles of old railway ties to catch fire. According to firefighters at the Lauzon Parkway scene, it is fairly common for fires to start this way around this time of year.
 
Windsor Fire spokesman Lee Tome said the first calls to the Windsor dispatch came in just after 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
 
Along with patches of grass and field, Williamson said that piles of old railway ties that CP was storing along the tracks also caught on fire.
 
The pockets of flames stretch from Lauzon Parkway east into Lakeshore at Puce Road with sites at Lauzon Rd., Manning Rd., and Puce Rd.
 
Williamson said fire trucks from the Lakeshore, Tecumseh, and Windsor fire departments were out, and Kingsville's fire department also volunteered one of its water tank trucks to get to an area of road where larger trucks couldn't get to easily.
 
"Our guys are knocking them down one by one," Williamson said.
 
A CP maintenance crew is also out dealing with the fires, he said, adding that some new fires broke out by Wallace Line, which crosses the train tracks, at about 4:20 p.m.
 
The Tecumseh fire service tweeted CP train traffic has been stopped until the fire department and CP police give the all-clear.
 
"We have our crews out there along there inspecting the track," said CP spokesman Kevin Hrysak. A CP train passed through the area an hour before the fires were reported, he said, but it's too early to speculate whether that was the cause.
 
Tome said two Windsor trucks from the city were out fighting the fires around Lauzon Parkway for a few hours until about 4:30 p.m.
 
"It happens," Tome said of the grass fires, since the ground is drying up with the change in the weather.
 
Beatrice Fantoni.

Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada