CN derailment in Saskatchewan causes grass fire, oil leak

The cleanup process is underway in west-central Saskatchewan after a CN Rail freight train derailed resulting in a grass fire and an oil leak early Wednesday morning. 

The RCMP said the scene, just west of Landis, Sask., about 130 kilometres west of Saskatoon, was chaotic when officers arrived at about 4:15 CST. 

Police said 17 rail cars had jumped the tracks, causing a grass fire which was already burning when they arrived. 

The flames, which were in a ditch, were soon extinguished. 

"There were a mixture of cars involved in the incident with two of the cars carrying condensate, three of the cars carrying lubricating oil and one car of ethanol and the remainder carrying mixed freight," said Warren Chandler with CN Rail. 

"One of the derailed cars is leaking a relatively small amount of lubricating oil," he continued. 

It's not known how much of the oil has leaked out, but Warren said the liquid is not flammable.

A hazardous materials team is on the scene cleaning up the spill, the province said. 

"Crews have already begun using vacuum trucks to reclaim the relatively small amount of product that leaked," said Warren.  

One of the cars filled with ethanol was on its side, but nothing was leaking out, provincial officials said.

There were 130 cars on the train — 55 were loaded and 75 were empty.

As a precautionary measure, school was cancelled for the day in the town of Landis. 

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the derailment. No injuries were reported.