The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is deploying a team of investigators to the Lytton area “following a fire that potentially involved a freight train” near the community.
“The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence,” a statement said.
The deployment comes more than a week after a deadly fire swept through the Lytton area, killing at least two people while destroying the majority of homes and businesses.
Both the RCMP and the BC Coroners Service are already investigating the fire, but they have not speculated on a possible cause of the fire.
On Sunday, RCMP spokesperson Dawn Roberts only said that the investigation would be “thorough” and that police were “open to any possibility with regards to the source, cause or origin of the [fire.]”
The Lytton First Nation and Thompson-Nicola Regional District have both suggested the possibility that a train was responsible for the fire while several witnesses have also described seeing train fires in the Lytton area in the hours before the fire.
In a statement, CN Rail said it is aware of a video circulating of a damaged westbound train car in the afternoon of June 30. It says that video was taken in Boston Bar at 3:23 p.m., which was a couple of hours before reports of the Lytton fire were made.
The train in question, CN says, passed through Lytton “uneventfully” at 1:27 p.m., noting that a small wildfire that was burning on an embankment in Boston Bar was unrelated.
“A subsequent inspection carried out by CN after the train arrived in Vancouver confirmed that a tarpaulin covering some of the train’s cargo had melted, but that at no time was the train or its cargo ablaze,” the CN statement said.
While part of CN’s track in Lytton sustained heavy damage from the fire, CP Rail, which also has a track through Lytton, resumed its service through the area on Monday.
Earlier today, Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra issued an order that stopped all trains through the Fraser Canyon for at least 48 hours, starting today.
“This Ministerial Order is being put in place in the interest of safe railway operations and to protect residents who are temporarily returning to inspect their homes as safely as possible,” he said.
Exceptions include allowing CN and CP access for emergency fire response and maintenance and repair work between Kamloops and Boston Bar and trains that were already in the area when the order was brought in.
Both CN Rail and CP Rail have also pledged to cooperate with any investigation into the fire. CN Rain has pledged $1.5 million while CP Rail has pledged $1 million in financial support for Lytton residents.
– With files from Colton Davies
