CEDAR CITY — Firefighters from multiple agencies responded to a locomotive fire north of Beryl Junction in western Iron County early Monday afternoon.
Jeff Germain, deputy fire chief of Enterprise Fire Department, said his department received a call from emergency dispatchers shortly after noon reporting a fire involving a Union Pacific freight train.
Upon arrival, firefighters were able to see smoke coming from the upper portion of an engine locomotive, Germain said.
“It ended up being an electrical fire, which was kind of tough to get put out,” he said, adding that firefighters were able to spray some foam through an opening near the top of the engine compartment. “We ended up getting some foam in the system and getting it knocked out.”
No injuries were reported. Both of the crew members who were aboard the train were safely evacuated while the fire was extinguished.
Germain said the fire could have been much worse, as multiple cars on the train were carrying diesel fuel.
“It could have been catastrophic if it had been a diesel fire,” he said. “That wouldn’t have been good.”
After the fire had been extinguished Germain said the train was turned back over to Union Pacific.
“They were just going to disable the engine totally and then push it with the other locomotives they had,” Germain said.
The location of the incident was just north of Beryl Junction, roughly midway between Lund and Modena.
Responding to the incident were personnel and resources from the Beryl, Enterprise and Newcastle fire departments, in addition to Utah Division of Natural Resources and Iron County Sheriff’s Department.
Germain said Enterprise Fire Department’s two main wildland crews are currently out on other large wildfires right now, among them the 10,000-acre Halfway Hill Fire near Fillmore and the other being the 4,500-acre Becky Peak Fire about 50 miles north of Ely, Nevada.
Photo Gallery
Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News Scene of a fire involving a Union Pacific locomotive near Beryl Junction, Utah, July 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Enterprise Fire Department, St. George News / Cedar City News
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