A CN Rail crew filmed their train stopped inside an Ontario wildfire, and one voice on the recording said ‘we’re encased in flames now’

A Canadian National Railway crew came to a stop in the middle of an active forest fire in Ontario, and video from inside the train shows just how close the flames came. The footage shows the surrounding forest fully engulfed, with one voice on the recording heard saying, “we’re encased in flames now.” The clip has circulated widely as a snapshot of how fast conditions can shift during Ontario’s wildfire season.

The train was passing through the remote town of Armstrong on Monday when it was halted to let another train move along the same tracks. The stop put the crew directly in the path of a fast moving blaze that had already turned the surrounding landscape into dry, flammable brush. As detailed by BroBible, the crew’s footage captured the moment the fire closed in around the train from multiple directions.

Canadian National Railway confirmed afterward that the employees aboard the train were not harmed. The company also said staff working in the area, along with residents of Armstrong, were evacuated on Monday night as a safety precaution.

Ontario’s wildfire season is shaping up to be one of its most difficult on record

Hundreds of fires have burned across Ontario this year, sending smoke that has turned skies from Thunder Bay to Toronto shades of orange. That smoke has drifted south into parts of the United States as well, lowering air quality in several regions. Amid a wave of unrelated fire and evacuation incidents making headlines recently, including California wildfire evacuation orders tied to a separate blaze near Los Angeles, officials in Ontario say resources are stretched thin managing the scale of this year’s fires.

Ontario’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services division has been tracking the situation closely. As of July 15, a Restricted Fire Zone was put in place for the Northwest Region and parts of the Northeast Region, barring open air burning, including campfires, within those zones to cut down on human caused fires.

Fire season in the province officially runs from April 1 to October 31, and anyone starting an outdoor fire during that window is responsible for ensuring it is properly managed and extinguished. Ontario has updated its Wildland Fire Management Act to allow for administrative penalties against those who violate fire safety rules, a shift the province says reflects the seriousness of current conditions.

By the evening of July 14, there were 148 active wildland fires burning in the Northwest Region alone, with several not yet under control. Fire crews are prioritizing the protection of life, property and critical infrastructure as high winds continue to fuel the spread of existing blazes. Elsewhere, unrelated coverage of infrastructure risk has drawn separate attention this month after a fireworks truck highway fire shut down a Tennessee interstate.

Officials are urging anyone in or traveling through affected regions to monitor the official Ontario fire updates and be prepared for evacuation alerts on short notice. As of the latest reports, several of the province’s active fires remained uncontained, with crews continuing suppression efforts on the ground and from the air.