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An oil train has derailed near Mosier, Ore., a town 70 miles east of Portland in the Columbia River Gorge, according to reports.
The Oregon Department of Transportation is shutting down I-84 westbound. Students are evacuating from Mosier School, the school's website announces.
WW news partner KATU-TV reports the train is operated by Union Pacific. Only one railcar is burning.
KATU reports the entire town of Mosier, near Hood River, is being evacuated.
UPDATE, 3:07 pm: Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Aaron Hunt confirms that 11 cars of his company's oil train derailed today.
"Eleven rail cars from a 96-car Union Pacific crude oil train derailed just west of Mosier, Oregon, at about 12:20 PDT," Hunt tells WW in a statement. "Oil was released from at least one railcar, which is currently aflame. Union Pacific hazardous materials experts are responding to the scene along with air monitoring and other contractors with firefighting foam and other equipment, as well as boom for oil spill containment. The train originated in Eastport, Idaho, and was headed for Tacoma, Washington, carrying Bakken crude oil. There were no injuries."
Mosier resident Gary Lindemyer took several photos of the fire shortly after 1 pm. Around 2:20, his son wrote on Twitter that Lindemyer had been ordered to evacuate town.
The fire has also resulted in some local rubbernecking, posted to Facebook.
For several years, critics have warned that train tanker cars filled with volatile oil were time bombs rolling through the Columbia River Gorge, a national scenic area. Yet local jurisdictions can do little to block the trains from passing through.
Last fall, WW examined the possibility of increased oil-train traffic.
UPDATE, 3:54 pm: The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission has issued a statement:
Willamette Week