Foster County issues transportation emergency declaration

Cleanup and recovery efforts are underway at the site of the Friday, July 5, Bordulac train derailment after the transition from emergency response operations.

In a statement from Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway dated Monday, July 8, spokesman Patrick Waldron said that removal of all cars containing hazardous materials have been completed.

"CPKC response crews, including environmental and hazardous materials teams, will remain on the scene to continue car and site clean-up in coordination with emergency response officials," said Waldron.

Waldron assured residents, "The health and safety of the public, emergency responders and workers remains CPKC's first priority. CPKC is committed to the full restoration of the scene."

Because of the emergency response moving to the recovery stage, Foster County Emergency Manager/Public Information Officer Andrew Kirking says that no further regular updates from the joint information center will be issued.

"Some emergency response personnel and equipment remain at the scene, as CPKC continues its cleanup work," said Kirking.

Emergency declaration issued

The Foster County Commission held a special meeting Wednesday morning, July 10, at 8 a.m. for the purposes of releasing a transportation emergency declaration.

Kirking was at the meeting to brief the county board on the events at Bordulac, with drone footage displayed to drive home the scope of the incident and the resulting damage to infrastructure.

"The main push (with the emergency declaration) is to open up the county's emergency fund" for county staff to provide assistance as needed, Kirking said.

A drone team from Stutsman County was on site to document the conditions, to serve as "a reminder of what we were facing those first couple of hours," he added.

In his presentation, Kirking said a full investigation is currently being conducted to determine if a culvert failure or washout caused the accident, noting drone footage taken on the north side showed water leaking through and under the derailed cars.

Among others on scene, the fire departments from Carrington, New Rockford, Kensal, and the rural Jamestown department responded with a cooling operation to reduce damage, and later used it as a "water curtain" for the anhydrous ammonia to mitigate danger to responders.

"[The hazardous materials] never moved any closer to Lake George," he said, noting that a film was put on the lake in case the materials did spread.

Kirking noted that there were no injuries or near misses at the derailment site.

"It's been an incredibly safe response," he said.

He noted the long time on scene for both the CHI Carrington and New Rockford Community Ambulance services, and said the situation has calmed to the point where just a single ambulance is on scene until all product is removed from the site. After that they will resume normal operations.

As for fire rescue volunteers, he said their participation had also been reduced as much as possible.

"Right now, they're gonna keep at least three trucks on site mostly to haul water," Kirking said. Once the product is gone, there may be one at most on scene to keep the water tanks full.

As part of the response, a 1.6 million-gallon storage tank was brought to Bordulac in order to de-water the derailment site. All water on the site and above will be pulled off as part of the cleanup and recovery operations.

The commission was very appreciative of the work Kirking's office, first responders and agencies have done at the scene, as well as their transparency.

"I just want to commend you for keeping us informed throughout this process, on top of everything else you're doing," said Commissioner Alan Scanson.

Commission Chairman David Utke added, "I think we're all glad we got you hired when we did."

Kirking responded, "I can't say enough about your first responders here... about your neighbors here... it's a great community that you all have."

The next step is to stay in touch with the officials at CPKC regarding the investigation, site recovery and road repair, Kirking added. While site-adjacent roads in the area remained closed as of press time for this issue, Kirking reassured commissioners.

"We'll spend some time getting all the roads squared away," he concluded.

Declaration text

The Transportation Emergency Declaration for Foster County, North Dakota, reads as follows:

WHEREAS a freight train derailed near Bordulac, ND with nearly 30 rail cars leaving the rail; and

WHEREAS several of the derailed cars contained hazardous materials that spilled and caught fire; and

WHEREAS local responders do not have the capability to address an incident of this scope; and

WHEREAS the response from the railroad and associated contractors have caused significant inadvertent harm to local infrastructure; and

WHEREAS the cleanup operation is expected to be ongoing for a significant about of time;

THEREFORE be it resolved that the Board of Foster County Commissioners declares a transportation emergency including all of Foster County.

The transportation emergency will remain in effect until recovery operations are complete and the Board of Commissioners concurs with the rail operator that the area has been restored to pre-disaster condition.

Dated at Carrington, ND this 10th Day of July, 2024.

(s) David Utke,

Foster County

Commission Chairman