For the second time in a month, Union Pacific dispatched a fire train from Sparks, Nev., to fight a wildfire along their tracks outside of Reno.
The Floriston Fire broke out before 11 a.m. Wednesday, about nine miles northeast of Truckee, Calif., and adjacent to UP’s main line over Donner Pass. The fire train was sent out later that afternoon.
Crews use hoses on a UP fire train to douse the landscape arond the tracks as the Floriston Fire burned nearby. Photo by Nick Stewart.
The train was led by one locomotive and had three tank cars containing water, along with a platform car for a crew. The tank cars were outfitted with hoses and the platform car was equipped with cannons that allowed a crew to douse flames with water along the right-of-way…