07/17/2026
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"We're Encased in Flames Now": When Northern Ontario's Wildfires Stopped the Trains
A freight train crew escapes on foot as fires engulf the rails — and a union demands CN Rail stop running through active wildfire zones entirely
By Don Riffel ©
July 16, 2026
The video is harrowing. Shot from inside the cab of a CN Rail freight train, the footage shows flames licking at the windows, smoke so thick the world outside has vanished, and a voice — calm but unmistakably shaken — saying the words that have now been heard across Canada: "We're encased in flames now."
The crew was operating near Armstrong, Ontario, in the heart of northwestern Ontario's fire-ravaged landscape, when their train was overtaken by a wildfire that had been burning for five weeks. They escaped on foot. The train was left behind, swallowed by the inferno.
This wasn't a ghost story. This was July 13, 2026. And it wasn't an isolated incident.
The Scale of the Crisis
As of July 14, 2026, 185 wildland fires were burning across Northern Ontario — 148 in the northwest region alone, with 69 listed as not under control. Just two days earlier, on July 12, the Northwest Region had reached 102 active fires, with 32 not under control and 29 new fires confirmed in a single day.
The human toll has been immediate and severe. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for Armstrong, Collins First Nation, Cushing Lake, Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation (Lac La Croix), and other communities. Smoke has blanketed the region so thickly that residents describe being able to "just about taste it."
And through it all, the trains kept running — until they couldn't.
The Train That Wouldn't Stop
The fire that engulfed the CN train near Armstrong had been burning for five weeks. The crew knew the danger. The company knew the danger. Yet the train was dispatched anyway.
Video credit goes to Sol Mamakwa, an Indigenous leader who captured and shared the footage that has since gone viral, forcing a national conversation about worker safety, corporate accountability, and the growing intersection of climate disaster and industrial operations.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), representing more than 10,000 rail workers, issued a blistering statement. "We commend the courage and professionalism of our members, who kept their composure in a terrifying situation," said TCRC President Paul Boucher. "But make no mistake, this incident should never have happened. CN should never have sent a train down those lines."
The union is now formally calling on CN Rail to stop running trains through active wildfire zones entirely and to put the safety of workers and communities first.
Francois Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada, was even more direct: "Our members should never have to drive through a wall of flames to move freight. Railway workers keep this country's economy moving, but no shipment is worth a human life."
Service Disruptions and the Bigger Picture
The disruptions haven't been limited to CN. VIA Rail has also been forced to cancel and delay service. The Canadian — VIA's flagship cross-country train — has cancelled all service south of Thompson, Manitoba, after Train No. 693 was delayed up to 12 hours north of Canora due to severe weather and fire conditions.
Three trains carrying combustible and flammable materials were stopped and staged between mile markers 20 and 23 of the Allanwater Subdivision. The Kashabowie subdivision west of Thunder Bay is fully shut down. Intermittent delays are rippling across other key lines.
This is what it looks like when the infrastructure of a nation meets the force of a burning wilderness.
A Season of Fire
The 2026 wildfire season has been devastating across Canada. As of July 9, there have been 3,137 fires nationally and 1.4 million hectares burned. While last year saw fewer fires at this point in the season (2,913), the area burned was far greater — 4.6 million hectares.
Environment and Climate Change Canada's forecasts point to above-average temperatures across much of Canada through August, with dry conditions expected for Northwestern Ontario. Fire danger is expected to remain highest across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern Manitoba, and areas surrounding Hudson Bay, with elevated potential for fires in northern Ontario and Quebec.
In other words: this isn't over.
The Questions We Need to Ask
The Armstrong train fire raises questions that go beyond one incident, one company, or one season.
How do we balance the economic imperative of moving freight — grain, fuel, goods that entire communities depend on — against the reality that the landscape itself has become hostile? At what point does "operational efficiency" become reckless endangerment? And who bears the risk when those decisions are made?
The Teamsters' statement pointed to a broader concern: "Recent federal government initiatives have emboldened employers to place greater emphasis on operational efficiency and supply chain fluidity, sometimes at the expense of critical safety considerations."
That is a political statement with teeth. And in the wake of a video showing a train crew running for their lives through a wall of flame, it's a statement that demands attention.
What Happens Now
For the crew that escaped the Armstrong fire, the immediate danger has passed. CN Rail confirmed that the crew was safely evacuated, though they offered no further details. The train itself was a loss — consumed by the same fire that has been chewing through the boreal forest for more than a month.
For the communities of Northern Ontario, the evacuations continue. The fires continue. And the question of whether trains should be running through active wildfire zones at all is now a national conversation.
The forests of Northern Ontario have always been fierce. They have always demanded respect. This summer, they are reminding us — in the most visceral way possible — that there are forces larger than schedules, larger than supply chains, larger than the bottom line.
The trains stopped because the fire wouldn't. And for the crew who lived through it, that is a truth they will carry with them long after the smoke clears.
