Synopsis

On May 12, 1989, a freight train composed of sixty-nine cars lost control as it descended the Cajon Pass in California. Derailing into a residential area of San Bernardino, the train had reached speeds exceeding one hundred miles per hour (one hundred sixty kilometers per hour). The initial impact claimed the lives of two residents and two members of the train crew. Over a week later, a ruptured underground gasoline pipeline, damaged by equipment used in the aftermath of the crash, ignited a fir