Local crews respond to train car fire

FOSTORIA — Crews responded to a train car fire near McDougal Street Saturday morning. Chief Mark DeVault of Bascom Joint Fire District said the contents in one train car was damaged. He said he did not have a total loss estimate. DeVault said the train car was hauling "coke," which is a byproduct made of coal. He said coke burns hotter and typically is taken to a place that refines it. When crews arrived at the scene, the train was disconnected from the rest of the train and was on a separate track, DeVault said. He said the coke was smoldering and there was steam coming off it. "We dumped a lot of water on it," DeVault said, adding that crews put about 9,500 gallons of water on it. He said Fostoria Fire Division assisted at the scene and its ladder truck was used so personnel could spray the coke from above. Crews were at the scene for an hour and half putting water on it, DeVault said. "We stayed there to get it cooled down enough that they could take it somewhere else," he said. DeVault said the railcar was owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad and came from a refinery in Lima. He said while the coke generally is cooled before it is transported, there must have been some embers in there that caused it to smolder. DeVault said nobody was injured. The fire was reported at 8:09 a.m. and Bascom Joint Fire District, Fostoria Fire Division, Bascom EMS and the Echo unit responded to the scene.