Your Health and Rail-tie Processing in Williams Lake. Part 3: Rail ties and Fire

AN EXTREME FIRE HAZARD

Creosote burns hot and fast but that is only part of the problem. Uncontrolled fire in creosote results in a great quantity of incompletely combusted compounds. Consider the dioxins, PAHs, and chlorophenols noted in my previous blog. The black smoke coming from such a fire would be full of those. No one would recommend that anyone be exposed to any of this.

A fire in this material could be a major problem depending upon which way the wind is blowing. People in the way of the smoke should either stay indoors and seal off all doors and windows, or leave town as quickly and safely as possible. Of those I have spoken to about this, the minimum noted was 'partial evacuation of the downtown.' I know that sounds dramatic, but this would not be a typical fire. If the city had the further misfortune of a fire occurring during an air inversion (see here for information about inversions in Williams Lake), the smoke would be trapped in the city.

I've asked the City of Williams Lake if the Fire Chief believes that a fire in these chips could be put out. Apparently the Chief believes it could be. I hope he is correct, but consider the short video available below, or at this link if you have a problem with the video below playing.

In the case documented by the video:

1) the wind was blowing the smoke away and because the fire was surrounded by grassland, fire fighters had access. The chip storage area in Williams Lake has very limited access as three sides are valley cliffs;

2) Although the fire was 'contained' the option of actually putting it out did not seem to be on the table. They had to let it burn out by itself;

3) This was a fire in a portion of 1,000 unchipped rail-ties. Chipped wood will burn faster and the quantity on site in Williams Lake is certainly greater than 1,000 ties;

4) The fire documented in the video was clearly not immediately adjacent to the downtown district of a city.

What are the odds of a fire in these chips? Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already but the fact that the site has access only from one side probably keeps most people out. The site, however, is directly across the street from a pub. There is no fence. It only takes one person, waiting for a ride late at night, who heads across the street to empty their bladder, who flicks a cigarette....

I'm all for trying to find win-win solutions to problems, but in this case, the chipping and storage of rail-ties in Williams Lake needs to stop.

Header Photo: Chipped and unchipped rail-ties behind the Station House Gallery

Photo Credit: R. Higgins