A train derailed in Tempe Town Lake and caused a fire

​A train on the Tempe Town Lake bridge was burning and releasing large amounts of black smoke into the air. The incident...

​Located in Tempe Town Lake (Tempe Town Lake) A train on the Lake Bridge was burning and releasing large amounts of black smoke into the air. The smoke from the burning was still clearly visible miles away from the incident.

Union Pacific stated that approximately 10 carriages derailed at around 6:15 am today. The south side of the bridge subsequently collapsed and caught fire. A spokesman said the train crew were not injured but one person at the park was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.

Union Pacific spokesman Tim McMahan said the train was traveling from Tucson to Phoenix, and two of the three tank cars on the ground under the bridge were carrying cyclohexanone. The third section contains rubber material. It was said: "No chemicals leaked and no tankers were involved in the fire." According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, cyclohexanone is a colorless oily liquid that is flammable and irritating and is mainly used in the production of nylon.

Those cars that had been burning for several hours were all carriages loaded with wood, and some of the wood had been scattered into the lake.

Video from CBS 5 investigative columnist Gilbert Zermeño showed the fire burning along the train bridge, part of which had collapsed near Tempe Beach Park.

The incident has been upgraded to a level three alert, which means that the city government will allocate more resources to resolve the incident.

'A scene from hell'

Camille Kimball was riding her bicycle under the bridge moments before it collapsed. She said the sound of the train was deafening and as she passed under the bridge she saw someone filming the train behind her with their mobile phone.

"I turned around and felt the most fear I've ever experienced in my life," she said. "There was fire pouring from the middle of the bridge into the lake. ... It looked like a hellish scene. A real hellish scene... The fire was fierce and the sky was filled with black smoke." She called the experience "surreal."

Several witnesses compared it to disaster scenes in movies.

Bruce Haffner described the scene as "unbelievable." "What a catastrophe." Helicopters were arriving to try to extinguish the fire in the air, and air traffic controllers were directing planes taking off from Sky Harbor International Airport to detour north to get away from the huge plume, Haffner said.

An FAA spokesman told Arizona's Family: "We direct the aircraft to the north or south of the accident scene to minimize the interference of the aircraft with firefighters."

Although the aircraft was being rerouted at the time of the incident, Sky Harbor International Airport continued to operate as usual. "As of now, this incident has had no impact on our operations," the spokesperson said.

It is unclear what caused the derailment and subsequent bridge collapse and fire, but according to Union Pacific's website, the company routinely conducts visual inspections of the bridge every 30 days. Spokesman McMahan said the bridge's annual inspection is on July 9. Arizona Family Channel is working to obtain this report.

Federal Railroad Administration investigators are on their way to Tempe to investigate the incident.

Source azfamily News, compiled by Yifan Fang