CN agrees to pay firefighting bill

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This article was published 24/09/2018 (2574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four months after a Canadian National Railway train was suspected of sparking a series of brush fires as it snaked its way through Winnipeg, throwing an overworked fire department into a frenzy, CN says a cheque is in the mail to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of battling the blazes.

The City of Winnipeg confirmed it sent an invoice to CN on Aug. 7, roughly three months after the fires broke out. On Friday, CN confirmed the company plans to pay up.

“CN did receive the invoices and the full payment is in process,” CN spokeswoman Kate Fenske wrote in an email to the Free Press.

On May 6, five fires broke out immediately after a CN train made its way from St. Boniface, south through The Forks and west through Charleswood.

The fires threatened businesses and homes and burned trees, fencing, building material and Manitoba Hydro poles.

The incident came during an incredibly dry spring, when much of southern Manitoba had tinder-dry conditions.

At the time, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service resources were stretched thin as multiple brush fires had broken out throughout the city on a daily basis.

Documents later obtained by the Free Press revealed that fire Chief John Lane, who was in San Antonio, Texas, attending a conference, lamented there was not much he could do to help his overworked fire department. The situation was serious enough that Lane offered to cut his trip short and return to Winnipeg.

In an email to colleagues, Lane hinted that CN was likely to absolve itself of any blame in the fires, despite the fact his firefighters on the ground had quickly pointed to the railway as the culprit.

“I have been warned that CN has a pattern in other provinces of denying responsibility,” Lane wrote in an email to colleagues.

On July 19, Lane’s prediction came true after CN announced it had wrapped up its internal investigation into the incident.

After a “thorough” review, CN turned up no evidence that indicated its “rail operations or equipment” caused the fires, Fenske told the Free Press at the time.

That frustrated many residents whose properties were threatened by the fires given multiple eyewitness accounts, internal WFPS communications and documents and video footage that all suggested the train sparked the fire.

Despite the result of its internal investigation, CN has agreed to pay for the cost of the deployment of fire crews to battle the blazes.

The figure of roughly $62,000 in reimbursement was calculated in accordance with the city’s “fee schedule,” a city spokeswoman said.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe