UPDATE: After more than eight hours, the fire was extinguished. Click here for the story.
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Tallahatchie County and area firefighters are battling a railroad hopper car fire off Sharkey Road near Swan Lake.
According to Tallahatchie County Fire Coordinator Linnie Maples, four freight train cars loaded with wooden crossties are burning.
The fire was reported to the Tallahatchie County Sheriff's Work Center in Sumner at 4:16 p.m. Tuesday, said a radio dispatcher on duty there.
The response to the fire has been extensive, the fire coordinator explained.
"I have units on scene, working with additional resources, water, foam and personnel headed to them," Maples noted in a 5:10 p.m. text.
In addition to Cascilla, Murphreesboro, Paynes, Philipp, Sharkey-Hampton Lake, Sumner, Teasdale, Tippo and Webb-Westside fire departments, units from Coahoma, Montgomery, Panola and Sunflower counties also are involved in the firefighting effort, the coordinator said.
He said Panola, Montgomery and Sunflower county units were providing foam, while Coahoma County sent a ladder truck.
Sumner fireman Corey Gee, quoting fellow Sumner fireman Steve Brady, said "small brush fires" have spread six miles down the track, and "crews are trying to stomp them out."
In a 6:18 p.m. text message, Gee noted, "After 2 hours, not much progress on the crossties on fire."
The burning hopper cars were uncoupled from the rest of the train.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Mississippi Delta Railroad operates 85 miles of track in the area and interchanges with Canadian National Railway at Swan Lake. Despite inquiries, ownership of the train hauling the crossties has not yet been verified.
This is a developing story.
