Kandiyohi County Sheriff Praises Quick, Cooperative Response to Train Derailment

(KNSI) — Local officials are thanking residents and praising the response following a fiery train derailment in the small town of Raymond Thursday morning.

Residents of the town of fewer than 800 people were awakened just after 1:00 after 22 cars on a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train went off the tracks on the western edge of the city and caught fire. The tankers were carrying mixed freight of ethanol and a corn syrup liquid. At least ten of them were punctured.

Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson says he is thankful for the “gracious response” of everyone involved, adding, “first and foremost of all the residents of Raymond, I can’t imagine having your door pounded on by one of our deputies or firemen saying ‘hey, it’s time to leave.’ I just want to speak to the overwhelming response that we got from the fire departments. I think at last count that was over 15 agencies, and this is probably an underestimate of the number of fire agencies and EMS agencies that showed up and just went to work.”

Raymond Ambulance ferried residents without transportation to the evacuation site in Prinsburg.

Top officials from BNSF traveled to the scene from Fort Worth, Texas, saying they traveled to the scene as soon as they got word. Sheriff Tollefson backed that up.

“I want to thank the people from Burlington Northern that showed up. They were very responsive, very professional, they were there very quickly and were a great asset. We knew very quickly what was on the train. And we knew that, there was no great hazard, but the recommended evacuation area was a half mile from the fire. Well, that’s all of Raymond.”

Tollefson said it worked because of everyone’s cooperation in putting the emergency plan into action.

“I think I counted close to 250 houses door to door in what I thought was a very quick amount of time. It just felt really good to have everybody together. And, and it’s just, it’s just typical of a small town response. I mean, that’s all it was. Everything from people taking off out of their house houses, getting down to the school, realizing that, well, we can’t be at the school very much longer, as kids are going to show up, to opening the doors to the church here cooking breakfast. I mean, it’s just there is no other word other than awesome, so thank you, everyone.”

National Transportation Safety Board members are traveling to the scene and are expected to arrive later Thursday.

The train was headed north from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The rail line is closed and will remain closed until further notice. Highway 23 between Kandiyohi County Road 1 and Chippewa County Road 1 is also closed until noon Friday, per the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

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