Salem, Ore.-Everyone at Fitzmaurice Fertilizer Inc. was trying to recover from the shock of last Wednesday morning, when one of their fertilizer trucks carrying a full load of granular potash was rammed by a Pacific Western freight train. One of the owners, Matt Fitzmaurice, was reluctant to answer questions because he “needed time to figure out what’s going to happen.” He confirmed that no one was injured and that the driver escaped in time. Investigators from the Marion County fire district were still trying to figure out if the driver just didn’t see the train or something else happened at a crossing in Keizer on the southern edge of Salem near Interstate 5. “I don’t know if he didn’t think the train was moving or what,” Chief Roy Hari of the Marion County Fire District No. 1 told local reporters. “The train just smacked right into him, flipped the trailer over and dumped it into the ditch.” One of those on the scene said that the train struck the rear trailer of the fertilizer truck, which disconnected and allowed the driver to walk away unscathed. Fitzmaurice said the rig was returning to the company’s Salem plant from Marion Ag Services with 10 tons of 62 percent granular potash. A Pacific Western spokesman told Green Markets that the 17 cars were fully loaded and headed for an unnamed military base. He said railroad cleanup crews brought in an air tanker to spray the fertilizer, spread it over an acre or more with diesel, and then drop flares to ignite and burn it away. He said the freight train was delayed for two days, but was finally able to get on its way later Thursday. The Oregon rail crossing collision is the second in two weeks to involve fertilizer loads. On May 16 a Union Pacific train crashed into a tractor/truck pulling a trailer with 4,500 gallons of liquid fertilizer in two tanks. The fertilizer was spread for blocks, authorities reported.
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