Black Hawk Used to Suppress Train Derailment Fire

Written by

Lydia Hoverson

| The Dakotan

•

A North Dakota National Guard Black Hawk helicopter distributed thousands of gallons of water over the almost 20 burning train cars that derailed early Sunday morning near Burlington. [Photo: Staff Sgt. Sam Kroll/North Dakota National Guard Visual Information]

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BURLINGTON — A North Dakota National Guard helicopter helped fight Sunday's train derailment fire.

The Black Hawk helicopter distributed thousands of gallons of water over the almost 20 burning train cars that derailed early Sunday morning near Burlington.

National Guard Public Affairs Director William Prokopyk said Governor Doug Burgum authorized the ND National Guard to assist in extinguishing the fire early Sunday afternoon, and the Guard headed to the scene around 2:30 p.m.

*^{The ND National Guard used a 600-gallon bucket 19 times to suppress the fire on a train that derailed near Burlington. [Photo: Staff Sgt. Sam Kroll/North Dakota National Guard Visual Information]}*

With 11 guard members manning the helicopter, the crew was able to distribute 19 loads of water from a 600 gallon bucket over the burning containers, which was around 10,200 gallons, according to Prokopyk.

“In the helicopter, there’s a crew of four - two pilots and two crew chiefs,” said Prokopyk. “The remaining 7 were aviation operations, you know everything you need to put an aircraft in the air, and domestic operations.”