'Bomb Train' Hits Oregon Community as Feared Derailment Comes to Pass

This story is developing and may be updated…

A fire is burning and large plume of smoke is rising after a train carrying oil derailed not far from the Columbia River in the town of Mosier, Oregon on Friday.

Termed colloquially by their opponents as ‘bomb trains,’ the increased threat of oil-by-rail disasters has been of growing concern across North America in recent years. Friday’s disaster is just the latest in a long string of such accidents that have rocked communities and devastated fragile ecosystems in both the U.S. and Canada.

OregonLive.com reports:

Local television station KGW5 in Oregon was providing live video footage from the scene:

The local oulet reports:

On Twitter:

Friday’s derailment fulfills the worst fears of local residents who have long opposed such trains passing through their communities. In 2014, in fact, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) angered many by deciding that it would not force oil and train companies to inform local communities, including public safety offices and fire departments, of the kind of cargo that trains would be hauling through the area. As the Oregonian reported in 2014:

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