A fire broke out in reeds along the Karaganda – Sortirovochnaya – Akadyr railway section, and it took nearly six hours to fully extinguish the flames, infohub.kz reports.
According to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the driver of a passing train spotted the fire at 14:15 and immediately reported it to the dispatcher at Karaganda – Sortirovochnaya station. The source was six meters from the tracks, and the fire covered an area of 0.7 hectares.
A fire train from Karaganda station and regional emergency services were dispatched to the scene. Twenty-five people and five pieces of special equipment took part in the operation. Extinguishing the fire required 90 tons of water.
By 17:04 the fire was contained, and by 19:58 it was completely extinguished.
"The fire did not affect train traffic. No delays were recorded, and there were no injuries. Railway infrastructure, tracks, signaling, communication and power supply systems were also undamaged," KTZ said.
Fire trains are on round-the-clock duty on the railway and are ready to respond promptly to fires, the company noted.
The day before, trains had to be used to fight wildfires in the North Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions. Dry grass and shrub fires came right up to the railway tracks, posing a threat to train traffic.