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CA: Investigators search for cause of trestle fire (Sacramento)
Sac Bee ^ | 3/16/07 | Tony Bizjak, Ryan Lillis and Ramon Coronado

Posted on 03/16/2007 8:46:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

Fire investigators are labeling the massive fire that destroyed a train bridge Thursday night as "suspicious" and are asking for the public's help in determining whether it was arson.

An arson tip line has been set up and Fire Capt. Jim Doucette said the blaze "moved very, very fast," leading investigators to suspect it may have been set.

"Until we rule it out I would call it suspicious," Doucette said about noon Friday.

Investigators say it is unlikely that a grass fire sparked the blaze because the vegetation in the area is not dry enough for that.

The fire that erupted on Union Pacific tracks over the American River near Cal Expo was still smoldering at some points Friday morning, but firefighters expect to extinguish in the afternoon, fire officials report Friday morning.

The fast-moving fire, first reported at 5:41 p.m., quickly consumed the heavy-duty trestle timber and tracks just north of the river and west of the Capital City Freeway.

James Barnes, UP spokesman, said the last passenger train to travel over the bridge was 15 minutes before the fire was reported. The last freight train to cross the trestle was 45 minutes. Neither train reported anything out of the ordinary, which could explain how the fire started, Barnes said.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: US: California
KEYWORDS: california; investigators; sacramento; train; trainbridge; traintracks; traintrestle; trestle

Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua
1 posted on 03/16/2007 8:46:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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Police boats pump water from the American River onto the fire-ravaged train trestle.


Sac Bee - Randall Benton

2 posted on 03/16/2007 8:49:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ......)
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To: NormsRevenge
Neither train reported anything out of the ordinary, which could explain how the fire started, Barnes said.

Say what? Please explain.

3 posted on 03/16/2007 9:02:05 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: NormsRevenge

Just a ward of the city that needed wood for a fire.


4 posted on 03/16/2007 9:02:49 PM PDT by Domangart (editor and publisher)
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To: NormsRevenge
The new trestle will be built out of metal and concrete, unlike the nearly 100-year-old timber structure it would replace.

I think we may have an answer.

5 posted on 03/16/2007 9:05:53 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken (Seldom right but never in doubt)
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To: operation clinton cleanup
Say what? Please explain.

Perhaps the first comma shouldn't be there?

6 posted on 03/16/2007 9:09:12 PM PDT by supercat (Sony delenda est.)
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To: Wally_Kalbacken
The new trestle will be built out of metal and concrete, unlike the nearly 100-year-old timber structure it would replace.

I understand that some preservative chemicals can make wood be more flammable than it otherwise might be, but what would be the mechanism for spreading the fire from one trestle to another? They're a fair distance apart. While I could understand radiant heat from one trestle heating the adjacent one to the point of combustion, I wouldn't think that process would be terribly fast.

7 posted on 03/16/2007 9:11:56 PM PDT by supercat (Sony delenda est.)
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To: supercat

The fire started because neither train reported nothing out of the ordinary?


8 posted on 03/16/2007 9:15:40 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: operation clinton cleanup
The fire started because neither train reported nothing out of the ordinary?

The original sentence, without the comma, would read Neither train reported anything out of the ordinary which could explain how the fire started, Barnes said.

The word "which" would more properly be "that", but even without that change removing the comma helps things considerably. I wonder if the author originally wrote the sentence without the comma and accepted MS Word's suggestion that "which" is supposed to be preceded by a comma. In case you still have difficulty parsing the sentence, it is saying that no out-of-the-ordinary events that could explain how the fire started were reported by either train.

9 posted on 03/16/2007 9:31:00 PM PDT by supercat (Sony delenda est.)
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To: supercat
In case you still have difficulty parsing the sentence, it is saying that no out-of-the-ordinary events that could explain how the fire started were reported by either train.

LOL! Thanks, I get it now. Some things tend to go right over my head, which could explain a lot.

10 posted on 03/16/2007 9:41:34 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: NormsRevenge

About 40 years ago, arsonists torched the old corkscrew trestle on the Roaring Camp Railway in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a real shame. Today the trains pull into a switchback siding, throw a switch behind the train, back up a hill for a half mile, then pull forward onto the main track. It was supposed to have been a lot more fun on the corkscrew trestle.


11 posted on 03/16/2007 9:48:00 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: supercat
The area has lots of 'river people', hoboes with a riverfront view. Dry timbers soaked in creosote could be especially vulnerable, given our lack of rain this winter. (33 days without rain through January)

It's anyone's guess as to what they might do to accomodate the voices in their heads.

12 posted on 03/16/2007 9:49:30 PM PDT by budwiesest (We need a 'divider' this time around. No more 'uniting' with commies.)
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To: budwiesest
I don't think a couple of Hobos with cans of Sterno could have ignited about a quarter mile of creasote soaked trestle even on a globally warmed day in March, 2007! This was a terrorist act on a key piece of old vulerable infrastructure.

A main line railroad route. A fibreoptic cable crossing. A major river water supply. An underground interstate gasoline pipeline. High tension power lines.

Just think of the multi-level target rich environment and then try to tell me this wasn't deliberately ignited by some cunning militant!

13 posted on 03/16/2007 9:58:23 PM PDT by SierraWasp (GovernMental EnvironMentalism... America's establishment of an unconstitutional State Religion!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

My guess is that one of the engines going over the bridge not long before the fire, leaked out some diesel fuel - and perhaps sparks from a brake shoe ignited it.

- John


14 posted on 03/16/2007 10:17:29 PM PDT by Fishrrman
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To: Fishrrman

I think it's called a "hot box" in train lingo.


15 posted on 03/16/2007 10:26:51 PM PDT by bubbacluck
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To: NormsRevenge

In possibly unrelated news, the fine folks bringing us the Trans Texas Corridor have encountered what they consider cretins on their fast track....


16 posted on 03/16/2007 10:35:24 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: supercat

Eats, shoots, and leaves.


17 posted on 03/17/2007 1:50:02 AM PDT by dr_lew
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To: Wally_Kalbacken

Well, if it hasn't burned down in the last 100 years, why should it burn down now?


18 posted on 03/17/2007 1:52:46 AM PDT by dr_lew
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To: SierraWasp
That doesn't sound like the modus operandi of al-Qaeda, though. al-Qaeda's tactics deliberately target humans on a mass scale, not do infrastructure attacks. Why do you think there are constant attacks on crowded places in Iraq?
19 posted on 03/17/2007 6:40:40 AM PDT by RayChuang88
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To: RayChuang88

Don't you think humans ride trains? Like in Spain???


20 posted on 03/17/2007 11:46:01 AM PDT by SierraWasp (GovernMental EnvironMentalism... America's establishment of an unconstitutional State Religion!!!)
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