It was just after 2pm on December 30, 2013 when the calls began streaming in. Two trains had collided just half a mile outside Casselton, North Dakota, one loaded with grain, the other with crude oil. Volunteer fire chief Tim McLean headed straight to the scene. Then I kind of knew, this was going to be a big one, the way it was described on the pagers. Community banker Bernie Sinner was meeting with a client in his office. His window is just 50 feet from the rail track. You could see plumes of black smoke rising pretty high above the tree line, above the buildings that are across the street from us. From the town's main intersection, witnesses could hear explosions as the railcars blew apart, sending fireballs into the sky. Ed McConnell has been mayor of Casselton for sixteen years. They evacuated the southwest corner of town, the part of the town that was most affected by it. But once the wind turned, officials put the entire town of 2,500 under a voluntary evacuation order. Some 400 thousand gallons of crude leaked from 18 ruptured cars. The fire burned for a full day. There 'd be no battling this fire. Even if you had an endless supply of water.
