Train traffic was stopped for up to an hour and a half as firefighters extinguished a blaze along a CSX track in Reed Township Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Lonnie Jaynes, assistant chief of Attica-Venice-Reed Fire Department, said the fire burned railroad ties and brush along a track between TR 79 and TR 81. He estimated the blaze to be a mile to a mile and a half long.
"We're not sure what started it," he said.
Jaynes said the fire was not suspicious and speculated a train could have sparked it. It doesn't take much to spark dry vegetation, he said.
The fire reignited after firefighters had extinguished it. They used 1,600 gallons of water, he said.
According to a Seneca County Sheriff's Office report, AVR firefighters were dispatched to the fire at 10:51 p.m., and Jaynes estimated personnel remained at the scene until 12:30 a.m. or 12:45 a.m. A grass truck from Republic was on standby, he said.
No one was injured, Jaynes said.
