Napalm-Laden Train to Stay Temporarily at China Lake

A train laden with 12,000 gallons of napalm arrived quietly Sunday at this high desert base, without the kind of protests that forced its return to California from the Midwest.

The train and its load of jellied gasoline from the Vietnam War era arrived sometime after 5 p.m. aboard a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight car, said Jeannie Light, a Navy civilian spokeswoman.

The napalm left a naval station in Fallbrook, north of San Diego, and headed east on April 11. The train stopped in Kansas City, Kan., after an Indiana company backed out of a deal to recycle the napalm, citing political protests.

The China Lake base is about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The napalm will be stored until another recycling company is found.

On Saturday, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Smith in Washington, D.C., described China Lake as “a good, safe, temporary solution.”

Most in the nearby city of Barstow agreed.

Barstow Fire Chief Dale Milligan, for instance, said last week he wasn’t worried about the shipment moving through town.

“I know what napalm is and how to deal with it,” he said. “Transporting napalm in this form is safer than shipping gasoline. And how many millions of gallons of gasoline pass through this town every day?”

Barstow is home to several natural gas lines. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has its Western States locomotive repair shop there and is putting a 2.3-million-gallon storage tank for diesel fuel there for its trains.

Since it is a rail hub, Barstow is temporary host to dozens of hazardous-chemical shipments, among them pesticide, ammonia, sulfur, spent radioactive fuel roads and rocket fuel.

Another 3.3-million gallons of napalm, a firebomb ingredient, are stored at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Facility.