Urgent evacuation issued for thousands of people living in Ohio village after train derailment

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has issued an evacuation notice for anyone living within a mile of a freight train derailment that caused a large fire and hazardous chemical spill.

The fireball and the release of chemicals, including vinyl chloride, occurred after about 50 cars of a 140-car freight train derailed around 9:00 p.m. Friday.

No injuries or deaths were reported after the accident, which left a steaming tangle of chemicals, smoke and fire. It happened near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in the town of East Palestine.

While more than 2,000 people were evacuated Saturday, DeWine is now calling anyone within a mile of the crash who had previously refused to leave to do so as soon as possible as a rise in temperatures in one of the wagons could cause an explosion. driving shrapnel a mile wide.

“Although crews are working to prevent an explosion from occurring, residents living within a mile of the site are advised to leave the area immediately,” DeWine said. While most people within a mile radius have already evacuated, local officials say more than 500 people have refused to leave their homes.

The local county sheriff’s office has threatened anyone with children in their homes who refuses to evacuate with possible arrest.

The state national guard, highway patrol, emergency management and EPA are assisting with the situation.

A text and mobile alert was sent out to tell people to evacuate.

Federal investigators had announced Sunday that a mechanical problem with a railcar axle caused the derailment near the Pennsylvania state line Friday night.

Michael Graham, a board member for the National Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference that the crew of the three-member train received an alert about the mechanical defect “shortly before the derailment,” but said the board he was still working to determine which train car. experienced the problem.

The Norfolk Southern train was carrying freight from Madison, Illinois to Conway, Pennsylvania when it derailed.

Despite an initial effort to extinguish the blaze, firefighters withdrew from the immediate area Saturday as fears of toxic gases grew. Cars were still burning Sunday afternoon, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said during a news conference.

“It got to the point where we needed to step back and let the safety features of the cars handle the situation,” Drabick said.

Unmanned devices were then used as cover as crews tried to determine which cars were still on fire.

“I can’t stress enough that if you’re in the evacuation zone, you need to leave,” the village’s mayor, Trent Conaway, said at a news conference on Sunday. The air quality readings remained safe through Saturday night.

“Please stay away from East Palestine,” he said. ‘Please stay away from the wreck. I don’t want to say it’s a dangerous situation, but it’s still a very volatile situation.”

Conaway said he arrived on the scene about five minutes after the crash.

‘There were some small explosions, but it could be things in the carriages. We are not sure. As for the tankers, I don’t think any tanker will blow up,” he said.

Although firefighters quickly began to put out the fire with water, they soon encountered complications.

“The heat is keeping the fire going, so they’re doing the best they can with the water, but the water will only go so far,” Conaway said.

It is flammable. It’s the location. The water is cold,” he added. The water system at that end of town is the end of our system.

East Palestinian officials said emergency services were monitoring but keeping their distance from the fire, and that remediation efforts could not begin while cars smoldered.

Conaway said one person was arrested for getting around the barricades just before the crash overnight. She warned that more arrests would follow if people didn’t stay away.

‘I don’t know why anyone would want to be up there; you’re breathing toxic gases if you’re that close,’ he said, stressing that air quality monitors far from the fire did not show worrying levels and that the city’s water is safe because it is fed from groundwater that was not affected by some material that left. in streams.

Environmental protection agency crews were working to remove contaminants from streams and monitor water quality.

Sheriffs went door-to-door Sunday to count remaining residents and urge people inside the evacuation area to leave. Schools and offices in the villages will remain closed at least until Monday, and businesses within the evacuation zone will not be allowed to open on Monday, authorities said.

Ten of the cars that derailed were carrying hazardous materials, including five containing vinyl chloride, said Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

According to Graham, the train consisted of 141 freight cars, nine were empty, three were locomotives, and ten in total contained hazardous material.

Vinyl chloride, a colorless gas, is considered a carcinogen by the US National Cancer Institute and is used to make the white plastic PVC pipe often used in plumbing.

“It’s a live fire scene,” Graham said. Cold temperatures complicated cleanup efforts, as fire trucks pumping water onto the fire battled frost.

Firefighters wore hazmat suits while fighting the blaze. Some 2,000 residents, or just under half of the city’s 5,000 inhabitants, were asked to evacuate their homes.