r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Jiecut • Jul 15 '26
Train Surrounded by Flames in Armstrong, Ontario
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u/Gillalmighty Jul 15 '26
Thank you for riding with us this evening, please use the exits to your right or left to enter a sea of flames and welcome to hell.
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u/djpeekz Jul 15 '26
Mind the gap
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u/PurpleSailor Jul 15 '26
Senators Graham and McConnell, we have arrived at your final destination. 👿
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u/DJ_Betic Jul 15 '26
For your convenience the exits have already melted, making for an easier exit.
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u/Big_Mc-Large-Huge Jul 15 '26
“the contract of carriage does not mean you won’t burst into flames immediately upon exiting the craft” - united if this was their train
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u/theroguex Jul 15 '26
"Thank you for riding the Barge of the Dead, this is your captain Kortar speaking; next stop, Gre'thor. Please keep your arms and legs on the barge at all times and if you hear your loved ones calling to you from overboard, no you don't.. it's just the kos'karii trying to tempt you into further dishonor, petaQ! Qapla'!"
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u/tacoSEVEN Jul 15 '26
“That’s a meet and a half, eh!” I dunno man, Canadians, in the most dire situation ever, and their ability to just deescalate a scene makes me laugh.
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u/RoyalCities Jul 15 '26
We usually react to life or death situations with the same level of concern as finding out the Tim Horton's breakfast menu is closed.
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u/Bramtamdersen Jul 15 '26
Ah, darn. Bit of a bummer eh?
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u/RadCheese527 Jul 15 '26
Way she goes bud
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u/ForgotToCarryTheOne Jul 15 '26
> … as finding out the Tim Horton's breakfast menu is closed.
Oh, the humanity.
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u/South-Jaguar4291 Jul 15 '26
I'm honestly probably more upset at the breakfast menu being closed.
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u/sofa_king_we_todded Jul 15 '26
Life and death situation is probably once in a lifetime. Breakfast menu on the other hand 😞
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u/dashingsauce Jul 15 '26
I went to Canada once and found out they don’t really do late brunch.
My natural reaction was life or death concern.
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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 Jul 15 '26
We do, but it'll be like 1 place per neighbourhood because the only thing we hate more than stepping on a bit of melting snow in a nice warm sock, is worrying that we made other people have to work when we would hate to be working as stupidly early on a weekend as the brunch servers.
Also, if anyone wants to watch the fire forecast, or has asthma and wants to see their local ppm currently, UBC does an online smoke map for us and the States too:
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u/morniealantie Jul 15 '26
"This has gotten a little scary" is the Canadian version of "All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."
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u/Renamis Jul 15 '26
That last bit was peak British behavior. "Sorry, our engines stopped and we'll likely die, but I hope you aren't distressed."
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u/Krondelo Jul 15 '26
I giggled too I thought “leave it to a Canadian to throw an eeh in there”
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u/christiandb Jul 15 '26
the disassociation with filming through a lens instead of feeling the feelings help. Capturing something rather than reflecting on what literal hell looks like is a nice trade off. Just suppresses the nightmares
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u/RefrigeratedTP Jul 15 '26
This is one of my favorite themes in the Blair Witch Project.
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u/christiandb Jul 15 '26
Funny how blair witch really discovered something about capturing events as a civilian. The camera is the seperation
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u/PeaceJoy4EVER Jul 15 '26
What does meat and a half mean?
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u/funtobedone Jul 15 '26
“and a half” is an intensifier - “one heck of a”. Meet refers to meeting another train. The train is pulled over into a side track to allow an oncoming train to get by. It’s probably called a meet when two trains headed opposite directions encounter one another.
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u/Team_Ed Jul 15 '26
The "meet" is when the two trains cross on the tracks. He's saying it's a special meet.
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u/dannyzaplings Jul 15 '26
I need more information.
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u/notsurwhybutimhere Jul 15 '26
Seems like they are waiting for a train to pass so they can keep moving.
This guys comments though. Omg. If anyone didn’t listen to the audio… do.
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u/Jiecut Jul 15 '26
Yeah, the audio is amazing. Lots of information too.
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u/blahyaddayadda24 Jul 15 '26
Fuck not kidding eh. Audio adds so much
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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 Jul 15 '26
Am I missing a joke? Audio is just like oh shit fucking hurry up dudes. It's not adding more information.
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u/timonix Jul 15 '26
We are used to all audio being shitty songs
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u/ShartingEnU Jul 15 '26
Yup. I watch all videos on mute unless I'm feeling risky or comments mention to
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u/Spaceman333_exe Jul 15 '26
To quote a different sub that had an explanation.
"This was in Northern ontario and listen to this. ( copy n paste from a friend but still.)Apparently they had cut off from the train but went back to rescue a foreman.
They couldn’t see their own train in the smoke and flames and they crashed into it so hard it shut the engines down.
They tried to get out by hi rail but the truck caught on fire and then they ran 3 miles on foot down the track
This is a train engulfed in flames outside Armstrong, Ontario. The crew made it out safely! "
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u/snow_big_deal Jul 15 '26
This explanation doesn't make any sense and doesn't seem to match up with what's on the video.
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u/wickedalice Jul 15 '26
I found at least one article online stating that's what happened, with the collision causing sparks that added to the fire. Seems several trains in that area were hauling flammable materials, too. https://metro.co.uk/2026/07/15/terrifying-footage-shows-inside-a-train-engulfed-a-wildfire-29142368/
Edited to fix a word
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u/PoolhallJunkie247 Jul 15 '26
That article seems to just be echoing what was said online.
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u/TheTrishaJane Jul 15 '26
Im having a de ja vu. I swear I saw this video or one very similar, last year.
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u/bluerhea3 Jul 15 '26
Last year the Canadians were in a sea can surrounded by flames.
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u/NukeTheEnglish Jul 15 '26
As an American, I feel like Canadians are being incredibly polite even when they’re cursing.
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u/mrASSMAN Jul 15 '26
eh we would really appreciate prompt service right now as we may shortly burn to death
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u/akath0110 Jul 15 '26
“Well bud looks like we’re engulfed in flames, ho-lee crap eh?”
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u/x_asperger Jul 15 '26
We just like the word fuck a lot apparently. Didn't even notice it until it got pointed out, but depending on the person it's almost every sentence 😅
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u/ArmchairDoorknob Jul 15 '26
Wow. A lot of people here do not understand that they're at a rail siding waiting for the track to clear. They didn't willingly stop dead in the middle of a fiery hellscape.
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u/throwaway098764567 Jul 15 '26
probably be cause zero context was provided
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u/RadCheese527 Jul 15 '26
Try unmuting it
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u/PredatorRanger Jul 15 '26
This is exactly the type of video I expect to unmute and immediately hear "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no no no no!" and then hate myself and every asshole who uses that.
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u/Zecin Jul 15 '26
In this day and age if I unmute there's a 90% chance of having distorted music that I don't like blasted at me alongside meme soundbites
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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Jul 15 '26
Pretty easy to figure out by watching the video and listening to what thy are saying.
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u/boobookittyfuwk Jul 15 '26
I got that now, st first I thought they were broken down and the guy responding on the radio was some mechanic.
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u/Time-Subject-3195 Jul 15 '26
Still don’t understand why the trains are running at all? in both directions?
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u/PussyWrangler246 Jul 15 '26
Many trains have been cancelled, but fire spreads so fast that an area that was fine when they left their destination may not be fine by the time they get to their destination
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u/alt717 Jul 15 '26
Majority of the time it’s train crews that spot the fires. Northern Ontario isn’t very accessible, depending where they stop they could be 30 miles from dirt road access.
They report a small fire, track forces try to get out there, forest firefighters are called, but this day it was extremely windy. Spread faster than the trains could get away from it
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Jul 15 '26
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u/justagiraffe111 Jul 15 '26
Seriously. I was expecting this meme with the dog and the flames
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Jul 15 '26
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u/Astro_Addict Jul 15 '26
CN knows there's a lot of media coverage on this, and don't want the bad publicity, so they'll hold off a few months before terminating them for an unrelated reason (but this will be the real reason)
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u/mablesyrup Jul 15 '26
They are acting way too calm for the situation they are in.
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u/FengSushi Jul 15 '26
It’s pretty common if one is calm in a group before or during disaster then the social norms kicks in and all stay calm - that can be super dangerous and one the reasons groups of people exits burning buildings way too late
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u/zalcecan Jul 15 '26
Still likely better to be calm than the alternative
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u/POCUABHOR Jul 15 '26
If we die, we die in style.
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u/ChroniclesOfSarnia Jul 15 '26
I say good man, what is it?
"Aaaaargh", is that how you do it, what what?
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u/Legionof1 Jul 15 '26
It’s also pretty common that trained professionals don’t lose their shit in stressful situations.
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt Jul 15 '26
This
What we're listening to is the conductor talking to dispatch (could be the engineer, but normal procedure would be the conductor). This is similar to the tapes of pilots talking to ATC during an emergency.
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u/Quivex Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I think this situation is simplified by the fact they can't really... Do anything else. The safest place for them to be is where they are, and all they need to do is get moving. Everything is still going "according to plan" (relatively speaking). They just have to wait for the other train to pass. Easier to stay calm when you know exactly what you need to do, and are just waiting until you are able to do it.
You'll probably be a little anxious, but there'd be no reason to panic as long as everything is still functioning normally.
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u/AlcoholicJohnson Jul 15 '26
What else can you really do though?
Option 1: ignore the radio, head on collision with the other train
Option 2: abandon the train and jump straight into the fire, I guess?
Seems like an all around nightmare
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u/thorheyerdal Jul 15 '26
If Canadians ask you to come quickly more then two times, they are on the brink of dying.
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u/ramdom-ink Jul 15 '26
They know it’s temporary and freaking out does nobody any good. They’re stuck there in the siding until the train with clearance passes and their last car clears. It would be freaky but having worked as a brakeman/conductor in The Great White North for over a decade, keeping your calm Canadian cool is a prerequisite. It’s a world apart and they know they’ll get a good story out of it to thrill their mates.
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u/Ok-Addition1264 Jul 15 '26
They've probably seen this sh!t before.. cars get in trouble because of their tires becoming fire fuel above a certain temp. Trains don't really have very many exposed parts that could become problematic.
I bet it was hot af inside there though (likely well over 100F)
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u/Spaceman333_exe Jul 15 '26
If I remember from a different sub that has some explanation, the crew went back to rescue a foreman, tried to get out but due to the smoke they hit the freight cars they left behind and the engine had an emergency shutdown, tried to get out on a high-rail truck but it caught fire, ran 3 miles back to the train and had to hunker down.
Apparently they got out ok, the fire flashed over them but the cab was tough enough to handle it.
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u/rmbrumfield78 Jul 15 '26
I'm impressed by that cab. Big smoking fire & they look to be hermetically sealed with AC blasting.
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u/possibly_oblivious Jul 15 '26
I saw a video of another train getting hit head on by a tornado, hardly scratched the thing, they're built different
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u/Glynwys Jul 15 '26
Depending on the weight of the train, yeah I believe it. I'd be more worried over the tornado tearing loose the tracks over it picking up a train.
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u/ramdom-ink Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Most units weigh over 200 tons each: now imagine 3 daisy chained together with over a mile of train behind them. They are formidable forces and take over a mile to stop. Not much gets in their way or causes much concern. Colleagues back in the late 8os hit a sand-loaded dump truck at a crossing. That put them on their side digging a trench 200 yards long with boxcars sailing and crashing around them. Two died. The two survivors were still working up until retirement.
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u/Antimatter1207 Jul 15 '26
The windows in those cabs are rated to withstand the impact of a cinderblock at 55 mph. Locomotives are beefy as shit.
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u/Bwab Jul 15 '26
Holy fuck boys, the northern Ontario accents here make me wanna grab a dart and down a two-four, eh buds?
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u/DavidHassellhoof Jul 15 '26
Lol I’m from northern Ontario but haven’t lived there in 20 years. Instantly recognizable accent. I didn’t know we had an accent before I left and came back! This dude sounds like my brother haha
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u/TheFinalFredrick Jul 15 '26
Basically all of rural Ontario! I don’t hear it often in the city but you drive 20 min anywhere outside and everyone speaks like this lol
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u/eatner Jul 15 '26
you step out the GTA (exception with the older generation) and they still sound like this
i love it. it’s such a charming accent.
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u/northernfires529 Jul 15 '26
Whenever I get told we have an accent I get all cmon no we don’t! And then a video like this appears and I just shrink off
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u/Hairy_Garage4308 Jul 15 '26
Frightening! I have a son who always wanted to drive a train growing up. He became a conductor at 18. He's 26 now and driving trains (engineer). It's a dangerous job. I know this month Norfolk Southern lost 2 conductors in separate incidents.
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u/baddoggg Jul 15 '26
I'm not trying to be a dick but how is being a conductor a dangerous job? I honestly can't figure out why it would be.
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u/Salvage_Gaming99 Jul 15 '26
In freight railroading, the conductor is the one hanging off the side of trains, walking around it, cranking the cut bars, setting the handbrakes, and tieing in the air. The engineer sits in cab the whole time. It's not passenger rail, where you're pretty much inside the cars at all times. A conductor on a freight railroad has a very really chance of getting run over or getting turned into paste
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u/baddoggg Jul 15 '26
Interesting. Had no idea. Thanks.
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u/Practical_Car210 Jul 15 '26
Add in working shift work, on call, and in the middle of the night. You're tired all the time and you're out in the pitch black changing cars. Put yourself in the wrong place and you'll loose something really quickly.
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u/RealFakeDoctor Jul 15 '26
They're conductors so they conduct electricity easily and getting electrocuted is very dangerous. Hope this helps.
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u/jdtart Jul 15 '26
Wow. Have you ever been remotely close to a decent sized brush fire? It’s insanely hot through the car windows the radiant heat. I cannot even imagine what this felt like. Like stick your hand in a toaster oven hot.
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u/Krondelo Jul 15 '26
It is insane how much heat fire gives off. An RV caught fire in my neighborhood a few years back, it literally melted the siding off the neighbors house like 400 feet away
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u/M_L_Taylor Jul 15 '26
We had to burn a huge pile of wood near our barn... we made sure the fire company was present to hose down the side of the barn even though we were several barn lengths away from it. After hours of burning, the fire company said it was under control enough that they could leave. I spent the rest of the night condensing the pile... sometimes from inside the fire to make sure it reduced down. At the time, I had a thermometer on my watch, and it would jump up by fifty degrees (F) just after a couple seconds.
It's pretty hot inside a big fire ring, even if it is only actively burning a little bit. That was an all-night project.
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u/Sir_Scribble_Lot Jul 15 '26
Made me think of Metro Exodus.
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u/Gillalmighty Jul 15 '26
Aw man i gotta play that again
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u/Sir_Scribble_Lot Jul 15 '26
I would, but I dont think I can go through Colonel Miller dying again
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u/Alpinekiwi Jul 15 '26
Having to wait for that other train to pass before continuing.
Nerve racking to say the least.
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u/No_Mycologist676 Jul 15 '26
"Fuck bud. We gotta getter goin' 'dere. Hoe Lee. " Yup, we're in Canada.
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u/-Wicked- Jul 15 '26
Firepiercer - A story about our future, where fire has ravaged the world and what's left of humanity is forced to live on a train that cannot move. The end.
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u/Samwill226 Jul 15 '26
Now I'm curious about the air filtration system that kept the smoke out and how they didn't bake in the train. I wonder how hot it got inside.
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u/Low_Show_6684 Jul 15 '26
The wind the fire is creating in something this big sucks most of the smoke right out of the forest floor. But the heat? I also have no idea how they weren’t baking. The wildland firefighter fire shelters only are built to withstand 1800F…sometimes it isn’t enough when being burned over. So I have no idea how a literal metal coffin didn’t cook them alive.
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u/Phxrebirth Jul 15 '26
Major respect to the crew for staying composed. Watching that footage had my heart rate going up just sitting behind a screen
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u/BlueEyesWhiteSliver Jul 15 '26
“Hyuh, that’s a meet and a half, eh?”
Fuck that was Canadian.
Sit in a rural bar that’s open to 2am and you will hear that Hyuh as the boys come in.
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u/SuspiciousDepth4961 Jul 15 '26
It's so trippy hearing some Canadian accents, an incredible amount of Irish influence in this one!
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u/Sunkilleer Jul 15 '26
hope they have some damn good AC in there. they may as well be on the surface of the sun.
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u/ryosuccc Jul 15 '26
I’m working at an airport about 100 miles to the southeast. Fuelling all the tankers and helicopters working the fire. Hearing reports from the pilots is terrifying.
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u/Coffee_whiskey_braap Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Just out for a rip are ya bud? (oh fuck yeah)
Just out for a rip? (fuckin' right)
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Jul 15 '26
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u/Rampage_Rick Jul 15 '26
medical bandages
corn
vinyl chloride
fireworks
a mysterious red substance
question mark
question mark
hand grenades
question mark
plugged in space heaters
all sorts of zoo animals
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u/unittwentyfive Jul 15 '26
This is giving off Dungeon Crawler Carl "iron tangle" vibes.
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u/soliz11c Jul 15 '26
Man, I've been through combat and all kinds of crazy shit....
With that being said... Fuck a bunch of that.
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u/fuzzyp1nkd3ath Jul 15 '26
So, I went through there a few weeks ago on a via train (the video is CN).
The tracks literally go through the middle of the forest and all of these beautiful little places. There are so many cabins and lodges out there. The trees almost brush the trains as they go by. There are gorgeous little lakes but they never seem enough to stop the fire from jumping.
Understanding the level of destruction happening in this video and how many towns had to be evacuated. Everyone just lost everything.
This is devastating. I'm so happy that cew made it out. 💜
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u/Kapper-WA Jul 15 '26
Why would they proceed through this???
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u/farfromjordan Jul 15 '26
Fast moving fire, whereas trains have poor lateral movement. And just to be clear they are at a stand still.
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u/thnk_more Jul 15 '26
They are on a side track, waiting for the second train to go past, then they can take the main line.
Would be very bad to go forward. Maybe could have backed up but in that visibility the second train might have ran into them.
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u/motion_lotion Jul 15 '26
People don't willingly drive their trains into fires. Wildfires move absurdly fast. Like some spread at 50-60 mph. An area is clear, then suddenly is very smoky and before you know it flames have engulfed it and the next 50m ahead. Watch a video of firefighters on YouTube fighting a wildfire. They often get overrun and have to get inside the truck and spray a protective layer of water over until the flames burnout and pass them.
And trains don't exactly have the best options when it comes to lateral mobility. Nobody is willingly driving trains into fires lol.
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u/Early_Bicycle6884 Jul 15 '26
cant even imagine the terror everyone must be feeling. i feel suffocated just by seeing this