[kellyhound]

Video shows a freight train in Canada surrounded by wildfire flames and workers requesting an emergency rescue as they report being "encased" in fire.

"This could potentially overtake us here, this has gotten a little scary," a crew member says as the train rushes past burning trees near Armstrong, Ontario.

There are more than 100 wildfires burning in the province, with several northwestern communities under threat. Smoke blanketed Toronto, which woke up to hazy skies and some of the worst air quality in the world.

The wildfires have led to concerns smoke will drift into US cities over the next few days - including in New Jersey, where Sunday's World Cup final is due to take place.

Canadian National Rail said in a statement that the workers who were trapped outside Armstrong were all safely rescued, and that operations have been temporarily suspended in the region.

The statement did not add any further details about how the rescue occurred.

There are currently 838 wildfires actively burning across Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said in a statement on Wednesday that the remote Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in northern Ontario was "devastated by an unexpected and fast-moving wildfire" that severely damaged homes and community buildings.

More than a dozen fires are also burning in Minnesota, a US state on the Canadian border, due to extreme heat, dry conditions, and strong winds.

Officials have warned people to stay indoors to avoid the smoke, and to avoid strenuous activity and heavy breathing when spending time outside.

On Wednesday, residents of Canada's largest city, which has also faced extreme heat this week, woke up to a yellow sky, and warnings from Toronto officials about the dangerous air quality.

IQAir, a company which tracks global air quality, ranked it as having the worst air quality in the world.

It was ranked ahead of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Delhi, Dubai, and Jerusalem.

Outdoor World Cup fan events for the England and Argentina match on Wednesday were cancelled in the city, and wading pools closed.

In the US, officials have warned that the smoke is expected to drift into the region starting on Wednesday, even as the extreme heat starts to ease.

Extreme heat warnings in the midwestern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota are expected to expire by Thursday night.

[Mr.NoCredit]

I’d be concerned about the fuel getting too hot in the tanks exploding sitting there waiting like that. I don’t know anything about the fuel systems on trains so maybe there’s nothing to worry about.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Mr.NoCredit ↗

I’d be concerned about the fuel getting too hot in the tanks exploding sitting there waiting like that. I don’t know anything about the fuel systems on trains so maybe there’s nothing to worry about.

locomotive diesel tanks and industrial rail tank cars are built like vaults. You see them not moving there but they weren't in the center of the wildfire as they stopped a bit into the outer circle. The tracks are always on a gravel bed and a cleared right of way so no hotter objects like trees were real close to the loc, only the flames and radiant heat.

However the he radiant heat from a forest fire can easily blast a vehicle with 1,400°F to 2,000°F BUT radiant heat travels as infrared light waves meaning tree bark and leaves absorb nearly 100% of this radiant energy, causing them to explode into flames instantly.

the locomotive and its underbelly fuel tanks are made of smooth, dense, heavy-duty structural steel. A significant portion of the incoming radiant energy is naturally deflected or bounced off the metal surface.

Thick steel has a high thermal mass, meaning it acts like a giant heat sponge. It takes a massive amount of cumulative energy and prolonged exposure over time to heat thick steel of the tanks all the way through to its structural softening point.

However that heat was immediately transferred into the vast volume of liquid diesel resting directly against the inside wall meaning thousands of gallons of liquid diesel acted as a massive heat sink so the temperature of the steel walls was physically kept down.

The lets say 1,400°F+ radiant heat lasted only a short time before the fire moved on. They even said, that’s alright, this kind of burnt off so we'll be okay now.

I would be more concerned about the radian heat cracking the windows esp. when airco is on inside the cab which could cause to crack the laminated safety glass. the infrared radian heat travels straight through glass and makes the air to heat up rapidly and then you're trapped in an oven so to speak.

the toxic atmosphere outside and smoke and microscopic ash particles are sucked into the cab through the climate control vents and small structural seams.

Actually the crew had to be hospitalized and treated for smoke inhalation after they abandoned the train and walked for 3 miles to safety into the direction where the approaching train came from.

Fire was moving fast so i guess they waited 1 to 4 minutes to let it pass before fleeing.

don't think they could have lasted in there for 10 minutes or so in side that cab.

They were guided onto a sidetrack because of an approaching train and backing up would have kept them in the line of fire which travelled from front to back.

The approaching train was going at a significant speed lets say 45 mph and the fire around 10 to 14 so the heat couldn't get a grip on them. The filmed crew had bad luck they were sidetracked coz of that approaching train.

Why didn't they move on after the train passed is because maintenance/track workers were operating a hi-rail truck in the immediate area and because the wildfire smoke suddenly dropped visibility to absolute zero, the hi-rail truck collided with something in the blindness. They're still investigating if it hit a static track structure, a segment of rail or another piece of support equipment.

This happened not on the main train track though but because of the visibility it could endanger that crew and rescue workers being aside of the track that accident happened but more important is that the automated track safety locks are locked until the long approaching train, one to two miles long, passed.

Once the tail lights of the oncoming train passed their window, it took roughly another 3 to 7 minutes for that train to travel far enough down the line to completely clear the automated computer signal block.

So lets say 4 minutes for the entire train to pass plus lets say 5 minutes to get the track clear sign plus their heavy train takes several minutes to start moving fast enough would be too long and they would have been dead inside that cab so that's why they escaped by foot and luckily the fire was travelling fast.

Sounds like a movie now does it.