Firefighters at the accident scene - Date/Photographer unknown.

23 February 2012

The Day No. 405 Went Off the Rails

Moonstone Ontario - It was a farmer's wife who first noticed heavy, dark smoke rising from a bushy area of the former Medonte township.
 
"My wife took the call," former fire chief Ken Hamilton, now 81, said. "In those days, we answered the fire call at the house here."
 
Sun was shining into the Hamiltons' home on the bitterly cold morning of Sunday, 28 Feb 1982, when the ringing phone woke the family.
 
"I got dressed and before I left, we got another fire call," Hamilton said.
 
The call came from the Medonte railway station agent.
 
"He reported they had a train in the bush," Hamilton said.
 
Canadian Pacific No. 405 derailed not long after departing from Toronto. The load containing everything from throat lozenges and birth-control pills to guns, ammunition, and deadly chemical acids would never make it to Edmonton.
 
Thirty-five of nearly 80 railcars came off the track at Line 6 North near Highway 400 around Moonstone at 8:45 a.m.
 
"We got down to where the track was and the train was all over the place," Hamilton said.
 
"I was damned concerned because when I saw these tanker cars sticking up in the air, I knew what we were into."
 
All of the derailed cars scrapped and chewed into one another down an embankment. They were all on fire.
 
"There was a pretty good fire on the go and all kinds of explosions," Hamilton said.
 
Some of the explosions were tomato-juice containers blowing up. When the rail cars tipped, oil used to heat each rail car was set free, causing the fire.
 
The station agent informed Hamilton the train was listed as a "dangerous-commodity train."
 
"That means it's got everything on it. Anything," Hamilton said.
 
The main source of concern was a jet-black tanker car carrying hydrofluoric acid.
 
"Deadly," Hamilton said. "If that stuff vented, it would have killed everybody within miles."
 
The highly corrosive acid is used in the production of gasoline. Nearby residents were advised to leave the area.
 
Residents of the Edgar Adult Occupational Centre near Line 4 and Old Barrie Road were loaded onto school buses and kept there with the engines running for three days.
 
"It was obvious we didn't have the equipment to handle it," Hamilton said. "It was a real big wreck."
 
Medonte had 45 volunteer firefighters at the time. The fire chief, who started his firefighting career in Medonte, called for mutual aid. Twelve municipalities in Simcoe County sent firefighters and equipment. The Orillia crew was positioned directly in front of the derailment.
 
To fight the fires, crews created a half-mile water-relay system from the Coldwater River using a series of water hoses and nine fire trucks.
 
Despite all of the fire stations involved, there was not enough hose.
 
The fire college in Gravenhurst cancelled classes and sent all of its staff, students, and equipment to the Medonte scene. "They were quite a help," Hamilton recalled.
 
Hundreds of firefighters rotated shifts to help fight the fire. No one was injured in the wreck or in the days following.
 
About 40 firefighters were on scene at all times.
 
Feeding the firefighters and police at the site became a growing concern. A small restaurant in Moonstone closed early to make sandwiches and the ladies' auxiliary also made food.
 
"For the first two days, the community here made sandwiches," Hamilton said.
 
After two days, Red Cross came from Barrie to supply meals. Crews from CFB Borden arrived to make meals for police.
 
During the 10 days they were on the scene, fire crews experienced breathing problems, -20C nights, one heavy snowstorm, and they slept in the cabs of fire trucks. The cold temperatures froze the water hoses. Frozen hoses were transported to the Midland fire hall in 40-foot-long trailers to hang and thaw before being returned to the scene.
 
After several days, Hamilton and another man climbed through the ice-covered rail cars in search of the one carrying hydrofluoric acid.
 
"Everything was sheeted with ice," Hamilton said. "It was quite a trip to climb down in there."
 
Tanks holding the hydrofluoric acid had not been penetrated, but the train did have a big gouge in the side.
 
"When I saw the way that other car had ruptured the side of it, I thought, the minute we move something here, that son of a bitch might vent," Hamilton said.
 
He thought of his children and his wife, Valerie. Hamilton called home and told his wife to pack and be ready to leave.
 
"You leave and go to Parry Sound. Get the hell out of here," Hamilton told her.
 
"If that car ruptured, I wouldn't have to worry about them."
 
Hamilton received a medal of bravery from the provincial government for finding the dangerous rail car.
 
After 10 days, the tanker containing hydrofluoric acid was removed by a 150-tonne crane, and fire crews finally headed home. Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) spent months cleaning up.
 
The derailment caused quite a stir among Medonte council members.
 
"We had complaints from the councillors about the extravagant waste of money," Hamilton said.
 
At the time, volunteer firefighters were paid 60 cents per hour. Ten months after the derailment, Medonte received compensation of $89,230 from CPR. The 12 other municipalities were also compensated.
 
Locals put out by the evacuation were awarded a collective $130,000 from CPR.
 
It was determined the derailment was caused by a brake rod dropping off and bending the rail line onto its side.
 
Inside his Moonstone home, Hamilton has a fire transmission log from the derailment, police evidence photos, newspaper clippings, numerous letters from the aftermath, and photos he took, including a slide show.
 
Hamilton, who can vividly recall the events of the derailment, said he often reflects on what occurred.
 
"Mostly I think of what I could have done differently," he said. "Everything worked out, but it could have gone the other way."
 
Sara Ross.