PRESS RELEASE

City of Woodland Fire Department
 1000 Lincoln Ave.
 Woodland, CA 95695
 Phone: 530-661-5860
 Fax: 530-662-5781

At approximately 6:15 pm on December 26th, Woodland Firefighters were dispatched to a train car on fire in the area of East Main and Thomas Streets in Woodland.  The first unit arrived to find a box car of unknown contents on fire, with flames impinging on a tank car.  “The tank car being impinged with fire was placarded, noting its contents as diesel fuel” Stated Woodland Battalion Chief Eric Zane.  “Firefighters quickly engaged in fire suppression, protecting the exposed tank car and attempting to extinguish the contents inside of the box car” Zane noted.  Once crews forced entry into the box car, the contents inside were not found to be hazardous.  “According to the Yolo Short Line Railroad representative, the box car was used as storage for the railroad company, the tank car on the other hand is less than 25 percent full of diesel fuel” Chief Zane went on to comment.  The fire was deemed suspicious in nature and fire investigators are working with the Woodland Police Department to determine cause.  “A fire like this is a good reminder that our citizens should opt-in to www.yolo-alert.org”. Zane stated.  Yolo Alert is a state of the art community notification system to alert residents about emergency events and other important public safety information. “Had there been a need to inform residents about the fire and potential protective actions, Yolo-Alert is the tool we would use to do so”. 13 firefighter responded to this incident while the City of Davis Fire Department and the Willow Oak Fire Protection District provided citywide coverage.