‘We’re encased in flames’: Rail worker captures harrowing video as wildfire closes in on CN train

Video provided to CTV News shows footage from inside a train. CN says everyone on the train made it out safely.

The scenes outside the window of the train are breathtaking. A wall of flame engulfs the treeline just feet away from tracks.

“Y’all need to hurry up here, like, seriously,” says one of the crewmembers. “We’re encased in flames now.”

The crewmember’s voice can be heard from behind the camera as he pans around the cab, which is cast in the orange-red light of the flames outside. The fire is raging above the treetops as wind whips smoke by the window.

Then he speaks again, asking if someone named “Jodie” is still on the line.

“Well, Jodie? Can you hear us?”

“Yeah, I can hear you there,” says a voice on the radio. “We’re notching up.”

“Yeah. This has got to move f---ing quick here,” said the voice behind the camera.

He pans around again, and shows the dashboard in front of him, which reads ARMSTRONG ON. The date: July 13, 10:18 p.m. He curses again under his breath.

It’s a harrowing scene captured in a video shared widely on social media. Ontario MPP Sol Mamakwa was among those who posted it on X.

“This is near Armstrong, Ontario,” he wrote. “When will the Canadian National Railway Company make a statement about this incident?”

CTV News reached out to CN for details, including the location, time, and nature of the operation.

A spokesperson for the railway wrote back to confirm “that the crew was safely evacuated from the area,” but offered no other details. CTV News has also requested comments from Transport Canada.

Wildfires cause evacuations

There were more than a hundred active wildfires in northwestern Ontario this week. A mandatory evacuation order was called for Armstrong, as well as Collins First Nation, Cushing Lake, Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation (Lac La Croix First Nation) and surrounding area, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation and surrounding area, and Whitesand First Nation.

• Ontario forest fires: OPP say evacuation orders in place

Smoke drifted throughout the province. Torontonians woke up to a dull, greyish and smoky sky on Wednesday. As of 8 a.m., the city had the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, which tracks global air quality data.

“We have a very smoky start to the day. I know it may look like fog but we are contending with wildfire smoke,” CP24 Weather Specialist Jess Smith said on Wednesday morning.

“It doesn’t get better throughout the day today, unfortunately.”

With files from Dan Bertrand, CTVNorthernOntario.ca content producer