A faulty CN Rail train engine may have been the cause of a series of spot fires in Wilson Park on Tuesday evening.
Prince George resident Ryan Unruh said he was walking his dog along the Nechako River at about 6:30 p.m. when he saw an engine heading west pulling only one or two empty cars behind it.
"What was unusual was the amount of smoke constantly rising from the 'exhaust pipes,'" he said in an email to The Citizen. "It was an opaque smoke, the colour of burning oil in car exhaust, and was being released in huge volumes."
He was standing up river and estimated visibility was less than 300 metres for about a minute after the smoke reached him. Unruh also said the tracks are higher than the park and usually any fumes from a train passing by dissipate.
Once the smoke had cleared, Unruh said he noticed smoke along the tracks and when he took a closer look discovered it was a small brush fire. What's more, he found another one about a half-kilometre upriver where the tracks curve.
When he called Prince George Fire Rescue, Unruh was told firefighters had already been called to the scene. But it turned out they were working on a third brush fire by the park entrance.
"I walked back to my car and mentioned the fire I saw to the firefighters," Unruh said. "They mentioned that they would check it out, but first had to go further west to look at yet another fire by the train tracks."
PGFR chief John Iverson confirmed the incidents.
"We were quite busy for a short period of time," Iverson said. "We want to get on those things pretty quick before they turn into a huge problem."
He said it is a "logical conclusion" that a CN Rail train was the reason for the fires.
"From our perspective, it's a very uncommon thing to happen," Iverson said. "If it was something that was a regular occurrence for us, we would probably have some regular dialogue with these folks, but it was very unusual."
A CN Rail spokeswoman said the company is aware of the fires and is investigating.
