For nearly ten hours, firefighters battled a blaze sparked by a Friday afternoon train collision and derailment.

The crash happened in a rural part of northeast Porter County, near the intersection of 500 East and 600 North.

Investigators say three separate CSX trains were involved; at least one had tanks with remnants of hazardous material on-board. That news led to a temporary evacuation of more than 100 homes within a one-mile radius of the crash site.

"We had empty ethanol tankers that were on the first stopped train. It’s definitely good they were empty. Had they been full, we'd be talking about another story here,” said Sgt. Larry LaFlower with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators say it appears a westbound train was stopped on the tracks when a second train slammed into it from behind. That in turn caused both trains to topple onto a parallel track. That line had an oncoming train which couldn't stop in time and also became derailed.

CSX officials say both lines, which also run through La Paz, Bremen and Nappanee will remain shutdown for the indefinite future.

Each train had two engineers on-board; four escaped uninjured, two were found alive, but hurt in a nearby field. Paramedics transported both men to Porter Hospital in Valparaiso with non life-threatening injuries.

"When I arrived on scene with the first injury, they had him on the tailgate of a pick-up truck at the farm over there. Once the first medics arrived, we let them take over,” first responder Jim Sherrick said.

Friday’s crash site is just two miles from a June 16, 2010 CSX train derailment. However, officials say this case is worse in size, with the massive emergency effort expected to last well into the weekend.

"They’ve got a big mess to clean-up,” Sherrick concluded.

Investigators from the NTSB will return to the scene Saturday morning to try and determine what caused the initial collision
16wndu News Reporter Kevin Lewis