The fatal train disaster in Lac Magnetic, Quebec has led to the relocation of the fire hall in the town of Carseland.

It was July 6 , 2013, when an unattended 74-car freight train carrying Bakken Formation crude oil rolled down a hill and derailed in downtown Lac Megantic.

The fire and explosion of multiple train cars killed 47 people and became the fourth-deadliest rail accident in Canadian history.

After that disaster, there was a review of all the volunteer fire departments in Alberta and it was determined the one in Carseland is too close to the tracks meaning a derailment could destroy the fire hall.

The fire hall is located on the corner of Main Street and Railway Avenue.

It’ll cost one million dollars to rebuild on the other side of Highway 24 and ensuring it’s about 800 metres away from the railway tracks.  

“The town has to raise $400,000.00,” says Wheatland County Councillor Don Vander Velde. “ The county will put in the remaining $600,000.00.”

Carseland’s 600 residents have been holding fundraisers and every service club in Carseland has been hosting functions and donating money to the building fund .

Local businesses have also stepped up and the town will be that much closer to its goal thanks to a $25,000.00 donation from Agrium.

The money will be presented during a community suppe on March 9th.

 “It’s always very important for any industrial facility to be part of the community,” says Glen Ford, Operations Manager at Agrium. “This is our 40th anniversary of being in business in this area and we thought it was very important that we made a contribution to the fire hall.”

Ford says the volunteer firefighters are invaluable to the community, quick to respond to any emergency.

“We do some training with the fire department,” he says. “If we ever call them they will come out. They do a lot for us.”

The Carseland fire hall has been at its current location for as long as anyone can remember and it was also built by volunteers , many even donated money to its construction.

Vander Velde says he and his colleagues were shocked to learn the fire hall was too close to the tracks and the costs associated with moving it.

“It was a pretty big gulp but it had to be done,” he says. “We were under a directive that this had to be moved. There’s nothing wrong with this building.”

The county will be buying the old fire hall from the community for about $100,000.00 and that money will go toward building the new fire hall.

It’s hoped construction on the new fire hall will begin this fall.