Emergency crews were responding to a diesel spill on March 16 after a freight train derailed near Anacortes, Washington. According to a tweet by the Washington State Department of Ecology, the train derailed in Skagit County around midnight, spilling about 5,000 gallons (nearly 19,000 liters) of diesel. In a statement, the Washington State Department of Ecology said the spill happened on a berm and that most of the diesel leaked on the landside with no indication of impacts on water or wildlife. Local media reported that the derailment involved a BNSF train, and both its engines and one car left the tracks. The cause of the incident is under investigation, and no immediate injuries were reported. The derailment came hours after another BNSF train derailed in western Arizona and a little over a month and a half after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire.
