A firefighter works as a derailed train carrying crude oil burns on Dec. 22 in Custer, Washington. Credit: David Ryder / Getty Images The train is on fire : tense moments after an oil train derailed By
at 7:23 pm
The day started like many others in Washington state, with a long line of tanker cars carrying crude oil to a refinery on the shores of Puget Sound.
Western Washingtonâs five oil refineries make the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that keep the Northwest moving.
As the sun came up Dec. 22, a mile-long train full of oil was heading to the Phillips 66 refinery north of Bellingham after a winding journey from the drilling fields of North Dakota. It had passed Spokane and the Tri-Cities, then rumbled down the Columbia River Gorge, beneath downtown Seattle and up the coastline of Puget Sound.
Officials inspect the aftermath of an oil train fire in Custer, Washington, on Dec. 24. Credit: courtesy Lummi Nation Department of Natural Resources
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Even though an oil train derailed and burned for hours that day, government officials and oil-industry critics alike say the Puget Sound region got lucky on December 22.
The mile-long train full of fossil fuel happened to spill near two refineries with specialized firefighting brigades and far from any population centers, shorelines or salmon streams.
No one was injured when the 108-car train derailed in the small town of Custer, Wash., north of Bellingham. But about one tanker carâs worth of crude oil â 29,000 gallons â was lost, either up in smoke or spilled on the ground.