Firefighters were called to a train that was reported to be on fire near the intersection of Hwy 67 and County Road 152 between Brownwood and Bangs Tuesday around 5:00pm.
Brownwood Fire Chief Del Albright was on his way home when the call came through, being near the area of the fire, he stopped to assist in the situation until Jody Horton with the Bangs Volunteer Fire Department (also a Brownwood Fireman) could take command.
Alert engineers had noticed the fire beginning in the second of three engines that were pulling the BSNF train toward Bangs and used fire extinguishers to quickly get the fire under control. The filters within the engine had caught fire according to Chief Albright.
“Luckily, they saw it and put some extinguishers on it, taking control of the fire,” stated Chief Albright.
When firefighters arrived from Brownwood Fire Department, Bangs and Lake Bridge Volunteer Fire Departments, the engine was still smoking. One crew member from Bangs opened up the engine and found one of the filters to still be smoldering; removed it and a fire fighter on the ground doused it with water.
Lake Dam Fire Department was called to bring a brush truck just in case the train fire was to spread to the dry grasses along the train tracks. Fortunately, the fire never spread outside of the engine.
Pictured above is the Bangs VFD firefighter pulling the filter out of the smoking train engine. Pictured below, firemen remove and soak the smoldering filter.
