The final installment of nearly $60,000 from Franklin County fundraising efforts to help the neighboring Quebec town of Lac-Megantic was delivered this week.

Ryan Morgan, chairman of the Farmington Board of Selectmen, and Sen. Tom Saviello, also a Wilton selectmen, traveled to Lac-Megantic on Tuesday to give the last check of $6,851 from the area relief fund to Lac-Megantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche.

The Farmington-based fundraising effort raised a total of $38,851 for its partner community after a runaway oil train derailed, exploded and burned much of downtown Lac-Megantic in July.

In addition to the Lac-Megantic Relief Fund, the Rangeley Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce raised $17,000 for the community, and the Farmington library donated $3,000, according to Saviello.

The Quebec community is still undergoing extensive cleanup efforts, according to Morgan.

In one spot near the site of the explosion, oil went 75 feet into the ground, and the cleanup of the site is expected to take a year and a half, he said.

Of the 24 business that were displaced, all but four have been relocated, according to Morgan.

Morgan said Lac-Megantic officials are starting their Christmas celebrations and are planning to have a tree with 47 ornaments to represent those who died in the accident. Seven people remain unidentified, and their remains have been sent out for DNA testing.


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