Train crash that created huge forest fire was caused by beavers, officials say - Locomotives and lumber cars caught fire at the time, and an estimated 500 gallons of fuel spilled

A train derailment in rural Maine that spilled hundreds of gallons of fuel and hospitalized three workers was attributable to a beaver dam, state officials said. The April 2023 freight train derailment took place in heavily forested Somerset County and also led to a forest fire.

Three locomotives and six train cars from Canadian Pacific Kansas City derailed in Sandwich Academy Grant Township on April 15, 2023.

A beaver dam is to blame for a derailment that caused a forest fire in Maine in 2023, authorities say. Maine Land Use Planning Commission official Audie Arbo said Wednesday that "a vast amount of water" came through culverts and washed out part of the track after a flow designed to allow water through the dam let go,