UP: Fire Car Fleet Provided Critical Assist in Lava Fire

Editor’s Note: Due to recent forest fires in Northern California, Union Pacific’s (UP) Dry Canyon Bridge and nine miles of track sustained damage. Here is the story of how the railroad’s team fought the fires and is now rebuilding infrastructure; it was originally posted on the Class I’s website. UP estimates that the bridge will reopen Sept. 1.

The first time a UP fire-fighting crew tried to reach the Dry Canyon Bridge in Northern California, they had to turn back. The risk of being trapped by the Lava Fire sweeping across the Shasta-Trinity National Forest was too high.

They tried again, less than four hours later.

With water tank cars from UP’s Fire Car Fleet, the crew reached the bridge in the wee hours of the morning on June 29—the day after 50 mph winds reignited the fire that has since consumed more than 25,000 acres and prompted an evacuation order for more than 8,000 people.

“We could see the bridge was on fire—smoke was all around it and there were small spot fires all over,” said Jamie Hill, Director-Bridge Maintenance, Engineering for UP, in Roseville, Calif. “At that point, we couldn’t get close enough with the water tanks because the track was compromised.”

In the end, however, the employees who manned UP’s water tank cars, which are outfitted with nozzles that can spray upwards of 75 feet, managed to save an estimated 20 miles of railroad infrastructure.

With the fire under control, UP has turned its attention to repairing the bridge and the nine miles of track damaged in the blaze.

Three large cranes weighing 200 to 600 tons are now on site near the steel-girded bridge that stands 150 feet tall and spans 1,200 feet across a scenic valley. Due to the fire, workers had to build a road into the site and construct pads for the cranes. Current estimates have the bridge reopening by Sept. 1.

“The women and men who tirelessly battled to control the fire ahead of it reaching our right of way are to be commended for their unwavering commitment to the safety of their fellow railroaders, our infrastructure and the surrounding communities,” UP Executive Vice President-Operations Eric Gehringer said. “As the operation has transitioned to reconstruction, I maintain the highest confidence that our world-class Engineering team with the support of many other departments will safely and expeditiously return our line to service.”

At its peak, UP had about 30 people per day manning five to six water tank trains, working along a 90-mile stretch of track. About 30 miles of the 90-mile track span was actively endangered by three different fires that had broken out in the National Forest.

The crew doused spot fires and kept UP’s right of way, structures and tracks soaked with water. “We were fighting fires like no tomorrow. This has been the most active stretch of miles I’ve seen at one time,” said Hill, who was grateful to his team and credited them with doing the hard lift.

UP even assisted federal, state and local first responders on the ground, hauling water into remote sections of the National Forest to fill trucks outfitted with water tanks on the ground, saving firefighters valuable time.

“We work hand in hand with the U.S. Forest Service and others, coordinating our responses and supplementing where we could their fire-fighting efforts,” UP Director-Track Maintenance, Engineering Anthony Bernhard said.

UP has a fleet of about 50 water tank cars known as the Fire Car Fleet. These former tank cars were converted into water pump cars and can hold 7,000 to 23,000 gallons of water. They are strategically placed along UP’s railroad lines in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado, and they stand ready to respond, day or night.