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U.S. NEWS Friday 7 July 2017

High speed caused Amtrak derailment along Washington coast

derail as it headed north, drawbridge is open as a and released.
officials said Thursday. Am- train approaches, she said. After investigators deter-
trak spokeswoman Vernae That sent the locomotive mined the derailment was
Graham said an investiga- and baggage car and caused by human error,
tion found that the train four passenger cars off the the train’s engineer was
failed to slow down to the track, she said. Eight pas- suspended, Graham said.
40 mph (64 kph) speed senger cars and the rear “The safety of our pas-
limit while approaching locomotive remained up- sengers and employees
the Chambers Bay draw- right on the tracks. Some remains our number one
bridge, about 45 miles (73 of the 267 passengers suf- priority,” she said. BNSF
kilometers) south of Seattle. fered only minor injuries in Railroad, which owns the
The excessive speed ac- the derailment in the town tracks, declined to com-
tivated a special “derail of Steilacoom. Some of the ment on the investiga-
switch” that’s designed to injured passengers were tion’s findings, said railroad
avoid a catastrophe if the treated at a local hospital spokesman Gus Melonas.q
In this July 2, 2017 photo, emergency crews respond to the
scene of a train derailment near Chambers Bay in Tacoma,
Wash. An Amtrak spokesman said Thursday, July 6, 2017, hu-
man error caused the accident.
(Joshua Bessex/The News Tribune via AP)
Associated Press trak passenger train too
SEATTLE (AP) — An engi- fast in Washington state on
neer was driving an Am- Sunday and caused it to

Crews try to stop wildfires from
reaching Colorado resort homes

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (AP) not able to grab before
— Firefighters were work- being told to leave as the
ing Thursday to keep a fire blew up on Wednes-
wildfire that’s forced the day. The relatively small
evacuation of hundreds blaze quickly sent up a col-
of people from spreading umn of smoke visible from
toward homes near Colo- Interstate 70, Colorado’s
rado’s Breckenridge Ski Re- main east-west highway,
sort and the nearby historic and the 19th-century Vic-
town. torian buildings in the town
Crews were attacking the of Breckenridge, a one-
fire, burning about 2 miles time gold-mining camp.
north of the resort, by drop- Residents in town have
ping firefighting slurry from been warned to be ready
the air as well as build- to leave in case the fire
ing containment lines on spreads toward it.
the ground to stop it from Nebraska resident Sheila
reaching nearly 500 evac- Calhorn was among those
uated homes. Insurance who had their vacations
companies also paid to interrupted by the fire, dis-
send contracted fire en- covered by a mountain bik-
gines to the area to try to er near the Colorado Trail,
protect the pricey ski prop- a nearly 500-mile hiking
erties. Winds were calm and biking route through
early Thursday but officials the state’s mountains.
acknowledged that all “We were down in Breck-
their efforts to save prop- enridge and we looked
erties could be undercut if outside, and people were
winds shift. all staring into the sky and
The evacuees, including you could see smoke just
vacationers, were briefly al- billowing up,” she told the
lowed back to their homes Summit Daily News (http://
to pick up items they were bit.ly/2tWPUY2) in Frisco.q