No sign drinking water polluted after Ont. train derailment, says CN

There's no sign that drinking water near the site of a train derailment in northern Ontario has been polluted, according to CN Rail.

A train hauling tanker cars with crude oil derailed early Saturday morning near Gogama, about 80 kilometres south of Timmins, causing a fire and a spill into a local river system. According to Ontario Provincial Police, 10 cars left the tracks.

There's no indication the drinking water supply to Gogama and a nearby First Nation have been affected, CN said, and air monitoring systems have not detected any issues.

The company has launched its emergency response plan, bringing in experts in engineering, operating, environment and dangerous goods.

Chief operating officer Jim Vena apologized to local residents for the disruption caused by the derailment, adding that he is heading to the scene.

CN says indications are that 'the drinking water supply to Gogama Village and the nearby First Nation are not affected at this time.' (Erik White/CBC)

Firefighters are working to control the flames and smoke from the burning oil tankers that derailed on the tracks, four kilometres outside of Gogama.

This is the third CN derailment in northern Ontario in less than a month, and the second in the same area. Crews are still working to clean up a similarly fiery derailment near the community just three weeks ago.

'Very hard to accept'

Rick Duguay, who runs Gogama's general store, woke early Saturday morning to what he described as a strange banging noise. Duguay has lived in the community his entire and is accustomed to the sound of trains, but said this sound was different.

Crews unload temporary track to allow firefighters to get closer to the derailment. CN reports the Gogama and Mattagami First Nation Fire Departments are supplying personnel, trucks and equipment. (Erik White/CBC)

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He's relieved the derailment happened outside of town.

"Luckily it's not right here at the railroad crossing, but it's close enough and very hard to accept the things going on," Duguay said.

He wants to see changes put in place to make railroads safer, but doesn't think the two recent crashes are enough to prompt change.

"The worry was always there that a train wreck could happen in town ... but I mean, we lived with it all our life."

Down the road from Gogama and downstream from the derailment, residents of the Mattagami First Nation were warned Saturday not to drink water from the river.

Morris Neveau said the two derailments so close together have left many in the community unnerved.

"It affects our thinking and how we live, you know, because we live in fear, eh?"

'What can we do now?'

Gogama residents spent much of the weekend looking up at the large plume of black smoke looming over the town.

 Dawn Simoneau, 33, said her two daughters have been asking questions about the derailment.

"Like, 'Are the fish going to be okay?' and they are concerned as well," said  .

Simoneau, a life-long Gogama resident, has lived her entire life with trains rumbling past and an ever-present fear that something might happen.

"This is just always the way it's been. And now ... we're thinking, 'What can we do now to make sure this doesn't happen again?'"

The Ontario Provincial Police closed Hwy 144 between Gogama and the Watershed. (Supplied)

The derailment has some residents talking about the Energy East oil pipeline, which has faced opposition in other parts of northern Ontario.

Nickel Belt New Democrat MP Claude Gravelle said he didn't want to get into that debate while visiting Gogama on Saturday.

"Well, that's a different discussion for a different day, but there certainly are some concerns about pipelines. But there are concerns about rail cars. What's the safest? Accidents are accidents."

The intense heat of the fire has kept investigators away from the site so far, but investigators hope to find some answers Sunday about how much oil was spilled and what caused the derailment.

Train carrying crude oil derails in northern Ontario1:34

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