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Fire Departments Battle Chemical Fire at Patriot Rail

   Written by on February 4, 2016 at 10:57 am

By Crystal Vandegrift, Staff Writer

Ten fire departments and 45 firefighters responded to a chemical fire last Saturday morning, January 30, at Patriot Rail in Keysville.

fire front mainTwo employees were working at the railcar repair facility, located at 3922 Horseshoe Bend Road, when a fire broke out in the paint room around 11 a.m.

The facility is situated on 21 acres of land with paint and blast capabilities, and 11,000 feet of track, which allows for up to 130 “repair in progress” cars to be stored at any given time.

According to Keysville Fire Chief Lynn Duffey, no one was injured, and the firefighters worked close to two hours to bring the blaze under control.

“This was a great example of teamwork. The Bacon District pumper was hooked to the Keysville water supply and was pumping to the Meherrin pumper truck, which was relaying to the Hampden-Sydney ladder truck with a monitor (spray nozzle) on top, which was able to spray from above and could reach the source of the fire,” said Duffey.

Fire departments from Keysville, Meherrin, Bacon District, Drakes Branch, Phenix, Red House, Chase City, Farmville, Hampden-Sydney and Charlotte Court House all responded to the scene.

The cause of the fire and estimated damage have not been determined according to Duffey.

Patriot Rail could not be reached for comment.

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