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LUPTON, Ariz. - Crews plan to extinguish a fire on Saturday night from a freight train derailment near the Arizona-New Mexico state line that forced the closure of a stretch of Interstate 40.
Some wreckage has been removed from the tracks, but about 35 rail cars remain, including a half-dozen rail cars that were carrying non-odorous propane and had caught fire, said Lawrence Montoya Jr., chief of fire and rescue in McKinley County, New Mexico.
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Derailment sparks fire near Arizona-New Mexico border
A train crash near the Arizona-New Mexico border caused a massive fire, pile up and a road closure on Interstate 40.
No injuries were reported in the derailment Friday of the BNSF Railway train near Lupton, Arizona, though, as it turned out, the derailment happened on the New Mexico side of the tracks.
About 40 people living within a two-mile radius of the derailment site remain evacuated as a precaution as winds carried away thick smoke and local firefighting crews responded.
"We are hoping we can extinguish the fire before midnight," Montoya said. By the afternoon, that estimate was changed to Sunday morning.
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Train crash closes Interstate 40 for cleanup
A train derailment near the Arizona-New Mexico border caused a road closure on Interstate 40 for multiple days.
Once the fire is extinguished, any fuel that isn’t burned off and remains on the site will also be contained.
The eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 are closed around Holbrook, Arizona, and the westbound lanes of the interstate are closed at Grants, New Mexico.
Authorities say people should expect long delays and look for other routes or postpone travel in the area.
No dates have been specified for when that stretch of interstate will reopen. Montoya said he expects the interstate to remain closed until the fire is put out and hazardous materials are mitigated.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation.