An 18-wheel truck hit a train carrying chemicals and fuels in Cameron, Texas, early Tuesday, causing a huge explosion and starting a fire that is expected to burn for several days.
The Milam County town of 5,400, about 72 miles northeast of Austin, was rocked by the boom around 6:45 a.m., according to Cameron Sheriff Chris White.
White said the driver of an 18-wheel flatbed truck lost control of his vehicle, was unable to stop, swerved around a parked vehicle and into a rail crossing, where his truck struck a passing BNSF train.
“Nobody was injured or killed,” White said.
A barn burned to the ground, and several nearby houses were evacuated, but most people have returned to their homes.
The first 11 cars of the train were filled with gasoline, coal and petroleum products, causing the initial explosion this morning and fueling a fire that was still burning Tuesday evening, White told NBC News.
A car further down the train filled with with phosphoric acid solution was unhooked and moved to safety before it could be ignited by the burning fuel cars, and a specialized fire crew sent from BNSF arrived with heavy equipment to extinguish the blaze.
“They have got a lot of people working on it,” White said Tuesday evening. “They are indicating that it could take up to two or three days to actually extinguish the entire fire.”
Seven or eight homes in the “very rural area” are affected and those residents could be displaced for several days, White said.
Lindsay Mullins, a BNSF spokesperson, did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
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