Train Jumps Track In Fiery Wreck -- E. Washington Accident Injures 4

Flames shot up from a Burlington Northern Railroad freight train that whizzed toward a curve at 78 mph, causing 74 of its 87 cars to jump the tracks near the Eastern Washington town of Sprague yesterday.

The derailment sent billowing clouds of black smoke into the sky and tied up traffic on nearby Interstate 90 for about an hour. It caused about $3.8 million damage to rails and equipment, said Burlington Northern spokesman Howard Kallio.

"It was a runaway situation," Kallio said from the scene today. "The engineer said he went to apply the brakes and he didn't have any."

As bulldozers swept debris, officials continued to investigate the cause of the accident today, saying they thought it was due to air-brake failure. The 8,270-ton train was traveling in a 45-mph zone down a steep grade but picked up speed and went out of control, Kallio said.

The accident caused minor injuries to the train's four crew members, who were treated at Spokane hospitals. Three were released last night; the fourth was under observation today, hospital officials said.

The train, traveling west from Spokane to Pasco, jumped the tracks about 12:30 p.m. a mile east of Sprague, said Pat Hiatte, a Burlington Northern spokesman.

Firefighters from Sprague and Spokane extinguished the fire burning the engines and some nearby grass early this morning, but were still dousing a car full of smoldering cotton, Kallio said. Grass fires had threatened a rail car full of a hazardous chemical, dichloropropene, but officials found no leaks.

Residents of Sprague, a wheat-farming town 30 miles southwest of Spokane, said they first noticed the accident when thick clouds of smoke billowed above their homes.

"It's quite a sight," said Mayor Virg Meyer. "I've seen derailments, but not that severe."

The derailment sent motorists from I-90 into town after a one-mile stretch of the freeway was closed for nearly an hour because of the smoke.

Kallio said it will take weeks to clean up the wreckage. Crews are building temporary track, which they expect to finish by 10 p.m. tomorrow.

The derailment required the rerouting today of an Amtrak train that uses the route from Spokane to Portland, Kallio said. Burlington Northern trains use the rails about 40 times a day, he said.