Flames up to 40 feet high shoot into air during Tacoma train fire

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma firefighters faced flames leaping as high as 40 feet into the air as a train and some of its cargo caught fire.

The fire broke out at Tacoma Rail in the 2100 block of Marshall Avenue near the Port of Tacoma.

Tacoma Police told us a fire was reported in a train car carrying vehicles just after 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. At one point, flames grew to 30 to 40 feet above the car. Some of the autos inside the train car appeared to have burned.

Adjacent rail cars were carrying denatured alcohol and petrol products, but those were moved and did not catch fire.

Tacoma Rail operates the train that caught fire.

A trucker from Spokane said the large fire response forced him to stay in Tacoma overnight, as his work was impacted.

“Well, I am here for the night now. Basically, I’m stuck. My luck is out, so yeah. I’m basically going to have to park somewhere and sleep because I can’t stay in the middle of the street,” said Andrey with A&O Trucking.

The fire has since been put out, but Tacoma Fire crews remained at the scene Thursday morning.

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