The derailed freight cars were carrying lumber and wiring. Other cars were carrying hazardous materials but were unaffected by the derailment and the fire, said a spokesperson for the Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail network. The derailment was likely from a washout of ice and debris on the tracks, officials said.
The Rockwood Fire and Rescue Department said the train derailed north of Rockwood, a village in Somerset County that borders Moosehead Lake – the largest body of fresh water in the state.
Three railroad employees suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the derailment and are being treated at a nearby hospital, Britt added.
The derailment happened around 8:30 a.m. Saturday when the train came across a track washout in a rural wooded area, the rail network’s spokesperson C. Doniele Carlson said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear which freight train carrier was operating the train Saturday.
“An early assessment indicates that the derailment may have been caused by a build-up of melting ice and debris that washed out part of the railroad track,” said officials at the Maine Forest Service.
The three locomotive engines and six rail cars that derailed were carrying lumber and electrical wiring and caught fire causing a small forest fire, according to the Maine Forest Service. The fire is now contained and being monitored by local emergency first responders, the service said.
Carrying hazardous material via rail has come under fire after several derailments.
The most dangerous of the derailments occurred Feb. 3 when a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials, including hazardous substances, pollutants, and oil derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment resulted in a pile of burning rail cars, and contamination of the community’s air, land, and water.
Residents living near the derailment site ended up evacuated. Based on information Norfolk Southern provided, the hazardous materials contained in these cars included vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue.
Within hours of the derailment, EPA and its federal and state partners began responding to the incident, including providing on-the-ground assistance to first responders and conducting robust testing in and around East Palestine.
Since then Norfolk Southern Corporation and its subsidiary Norfolk Southern Railway Company (Norfolk Southern) received a complaint filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division for the February 3, train derailment in East Palestine that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals.
The complaint seeks penalties and injunctive relief for release of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances under the Clean Water Act, and liability for past and future costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).