Crews Fighting to Contain Blaze After Freight Train Crash in Texas
ENJOLI FRANCIS
Updated 23 mins ago
Emergency crews are still responding to a fiery train crash in Texas that occurred this morning, resulting in the derailment of multiple freight cars and billows of black smoke.
According to Joe Faust, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, two of its mixed-freight trains were involved in the accident at 8:40 a.m. in Panhandle, Texas. Images from the scene showed box cars on fire and piled atop each other.
Faust said four employees were involved in the crash.
Carson County Sheriff Loren Brand said that there were an unknown number of injuries and that one person had been taken to a hospital. Brand said crews still did not know what the freight cars were carrying.
According to ABC affliate KVII, the city of Panhandle had asked residents to reduce their water usage so that firefighters could effectively fight the blaze.
Evacuations had been ordered for the east side of Panhandle because the winds had shifted, blowing smoke toward homes and putting residents at risk.