Small amount of crude oil leaks after six-car derailment

Six CP train cars derailed Friday night in the Kip railyard near Coalhurst.

CP has confirmed the derailment occurred at 8:30 p.m. and included “one car (which) leaked a minimal amount of its contents. The leak was quickly closed.

On Saturday, Coalhurst Fire Department Chief Mat Conte confirmed fire crews were dealing with a crude oil spill.

More than 15 firefighters attended the scene, including 11 from Coalhurst, three from Picture Butte and a number of Lethbridge firefighters with the hazmat team. Crews were on scene for more than nine hours.

Portions of Highway 3 were closed for about an hour Friday night as crews dealt with the issue.

“As far as our role goes, it was more about the response to get there, and then setting up suppression equipment just in case something were to spark and catch fire,” said Conte.

There was also a perimeter and evacuation zone set up around the area.

“CP immediately implemented its emergency response protocols and mobilized teams to the site,” stated Martin Cej, Assistant Vice President Public Affairs and Communications with CP in a statement. “We take this incident extremely seriously, and will be focused on safety as we continue to deal with this incident.”

CP stated all required notifications were made and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The focus is now on cleanup and returning the site to the same condition or better.

There were no injuries and no threat to public safety.