BONNERS FERRY — On Saturday evening, Aug. 5, a fire was reported under a train on the track that crosses over Mirror Lake Road, on the side closest to Riverside Drive. This marks the first time that both North Bench Fire District and South Boundary Fire Protection District responded in unison.

“So now, on anything other than a medical assist, it’s an automatic tone out for the two agencies,” said South Boundary Fire Chief Tony Rohrwasser. “So any time they go out, we go out, and vice versa. We are trying to get more personnel on scene and better service.”

North Bench Fire Chief Gus Jackson was first on scene, and he was the incident commander. “So we were dispatched to a fire underneath a train car and we arrived on scene to find that they had already split the train apart,” he said.

The fire was essentially out, upon arrival, but they took precautionary actions, spraying down the loose pine needles and debris that had been the tinder for the fire, then walking the train to ensure all was safe.

Idaho Department of Lands arrived on scene to give a final check of the area. All was cleared and the train was able to connect again and continue on it’s course.