Teamsters Canada Rail Conference

REGINA — A CP Rail freight train has been on fire near the village of McLean, east of Regina, sending clouds of thick, black billowing into the air, RCMP have confirmed.

Four cars on the freight train — carrying four-by-four railway track ties — are burning, said RCMP Sgt. Carole Raymond.

Mike LoVecchio, a CP Rail spokesman, says the fire is nearly out and an investigation will follow.

"No dangerous goods were involved," he said. "It's under investigation."

Raymond said Indian Head RCMP received a report at about 1:30 p.m. today that some cars on a train were on fire and that the engineer didn't appear to be aware of the blaze.

The RCMP then assisted in having the train stopped, where it is now sitting about two kilometres west of the village.

An eyewitness said the smoke could be seen for some distance from the fire. The burning cars have been disconnected from a nearby engine, still sitting on the tracks.

Raymond said it's been confirmed that the four cars carrying wood are on fire, although the train blaze did start a number of grass fires along the tracks.

"What is burning is four cars containing four by four logs (railroad ties) each (car) is about 40 feet long. So there are about 500 to 1,000 logs burning which is causing a lot of smoke,'' Raymond said.

"This type of fire is very difficult to put out so we anticipate it will burn well into the night.''

Volunteer firefighters from nearby Qu'Appelle are on the scene, putting out the grass fires.

There are no reported injuries.

CP Rail's mainline passes through the village of McLean.

McLean is located 40 kilometres east of Regina, on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Near the village, the CP Rail mainline is located close to the highway, as it is throughout most of southern Saskatchewan.

According to McLean's website, many of the village's 250 residents work in Regina, commuting to and from their jobs each day.