Evacuation Order Still Not Lifted since CN Rail Derailment

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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There is still no news about when evacuees ordered to leave the area of train derailment and fire near Plaster Rock, N.B., on Tuesday will be allowed to return to their homes. Approximately 150 residents in almost 50 homes within a two-kilometre radius of the derailment site in Wapske have been made to spend three nights out of their homes since the derailment, majority of which are staying with family or friends.

The CN Rail train transportation crude oil, propane, butane and other goods derailed at about 7 p.m. on Tuesday, causing a massive fire in some of the derailed cars which are still burning smoke in the rural area on Thursday. According to the Transportation Safety Board investigators, 19 of the train’s 122 cars have derailed, along with a remote locomotive, which include five containing crude oil and four containing liquefied petroleum gas. Despite being updated about the situation in a private meeting on Thursday afternoon, the evacuees have not been indicated when the evacuation order will be lifted.

Residents with wood-burning heating systems in their homes are being escorted to visit their homes to check on the state of things. One such resident waiting for his turn on Thursday, Richard Levesque mentioned that “I’ll feel better once I get to my house and check it out and see if my water’s frozen” because “it hasn’t had any heat in it since last night.” He explained that “that’s why I’m trying to get to it now … to get the furnace going, make sure the pipes aren’t froze.”