Tiffin man dies in accident with train

A Tiffin man died after a train collided with the pickup truck he was driving at the railroad crossing on East Perry Street near East Market Street Thursday afternoon. Christopher R. Burks, 50, of Tiffin, was driving a 1999 Ford pickup truck westbound on East Perry Street and went through a crossing gate at the railroad crossing, Chief Fred Stevens of Tiffin Police Department said. There was a train on the west-side tracks traveling northeast at the time, and Burks' truck stopped before it hit that train, Stevens said. There was also a second train traveling southwest on the east-side tracks that had nearly reached the crossing when Burks' truck got onto the tracks, and the second train struck the driver's side door of Burks' truck, Stevens said. Burks was pronounced dead at the scene, and was extricated from the vehicle by mechanical means, he said. "He was driving to work," Stevens said. Stevens said Burks was then transported to Mercy Health – Tiffin Hospital's morgue to await an autopsy. Troopers from the Fremont post of State Highway Patrol were at the scene, and a crash reconstruction team was summoned. Train traffic in Tiffin was interrupted for several hours as a result of the accident, and Tiffin Public Works and Ohio Department of Transportation personnel assisted in closing off multiple streets and nearby roads during the interruption. Tiffin Fire Rescue Division, the Seneca County Coroner's Office and John's Welding & Towing assisted at the scene.