Guernsey residents allowed home 34 hours after oil car derailment, fire

Nearly 90 people who live in Guernsey, Sask. are allowed to return to their homes after an evacuation order was lifted at 4 p.m. Friday.

The order was initially placed Thursday morning after a CP Rail train derailed at 6:16 a.m., spilling oil and sparking a massive fire that burned for more than 30 hours.

Smoke from the blaze billowed into Guernsey, forcing people to leave.

The village’s 88 residents spent the night elsewhere, with most being put up in a hotel in Lanigan, located approximately 10 kilometres away.

CP Rail said in a statement Friday noting CP’s emergency response team was working with local firefighters to put out remaining fires at the site.

“She’s been a long 36 hours,” Jack Gibney, the reeve of the R.M. of Usborne, told 650 CKOM following the evacuation.

CP lifted the evacuation notice once the major fire was extinguished.

“The black smoke is gone, they’ve (CP) actually got the rail line back up and running,” Gibney said.

Trains will be moving slowly through the area for the time being, according to Gibney.

He wasn’t too concerned about train traffic returning, despite two derailments since December.

“They (CP) know what they’re doing,” Gibney said about CP’s repairs. “They did it two months ago five miles to the west I’m sure they can do it again on this one.”

Gibney expects traffic on Highway 16 will continue to be impacted while the clean-up effort is underway.