FBI joins Bend diesel spill investigation
Cleanup efforts continued Wednesday, a day after a train locomotive’s punctured fuel tank leaked more than 2,000 gallons of diesel along a mile of track in Bend — an incident police and railroad officials say they believe was caused intentionally. They also are looking for a possible witness caught on video.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas told The Associated Press on Wednesday the railroad is now treating the Tuesday incident as a case of local vandalism and trespassing — though it’s not ruling out sabotage. Melonas said investigators still don’t know a motive.
He said the fuel tank has been temporarily repaired and the locomotive is in route to Seattle where it will be permanently repaired.
About 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled as the train moved at 25 mph. BNSF has cleaned up fuel from the two railroad crossings and underpass, and plans to clean the rock along the railroad track bed.
“There was s a little bit of follow-up clean-up today (Wednesday) at Revere and Olney,” said David Abbas of Bend Public Works.
Crews worked until late Tuesday night to mop up the spill at the Greenwood Avenue railroad underpass, which needed the most work.
Wednesday morning, one lane of traffic on both Revere and Olney avenues were shut down for another clean-up, but more work is planned.
“The BNSF and their environmental folks they’ll be doing some work on Friday and Saturday, but that will mostly in their tracks and their right of way,” Abbas said.
Bend police, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the FBI are investigating the cause of the spill. They believe this was not an accident and say they are looking for whoever placed a piece of rail on the tracks on purpose.
“Well, we never know for certain until we catch the individual, but indications at this point are that it was an intentional act,” said police Lt. Brian Kindel.
Police are looking for anyone with information on the case. They are asking the public to help identify a man seen on security video footage from a nearby business. They say he is not a suspect in the case, but hope to gain valuable information from him.
Kindel told NewsChannel 21 the encountert could have been catastrophic.
“It could have potentially caused a derailment in that area,” Kindel said.
Anyone with information about the incident or who observed any suspicious activity in the area between 9 a.m. and noon Tuesday was asked to call police dispatchers at 541-693-6911.
You can also contact the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-877-876-TIPS, or use the form on KTVZ.COM’s Crime Stoppers page. You can remain anonymous, and you could be eligible for a cash reward.
