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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Ohio Governor orders thousands living within mile of derailed train to evacuate amid fears chemical explosion will rain shrapnel on the entire area |
| 2023-02-06 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has issued an evacuation notice for anyone living within a mile of the derailment of a cargo train that triggered a huge fire and the spillage of hazardous chemicals. The fireball and release of chemicals, including vinyl chloride, happened after 50 cars of a 140-car freight train derailed from their tracks at around 9pm on Friday. No injuries or fatalities were reported after the crash, which left a smoldering tangle of chemicals, smoke and fire. It occurred near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border by the village of East Palestine. While over 2,000 people had been evacuated Saturday, DeWine is now calling for anyone within a mile of the accident to leave imminently as a harrowing rise in the temperature in one of the rail cars could cause an explosion of shrapnel. The Governor said: 'Although teams are working to prevent an explosion from happening, residents living within a mile of the site are advised to immediately leave the area.' An alert has been sent out via text and mobile to tell people to evacuate. Federal investigators had announced earlier Sunday that a mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the fiery derailment near the Pennsylvania state line Friday night. Michael Graham, a board member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference that the three-member train crew received an alert about the mechanical defect 'shortly before the derailment' but said the board was still working to determine which rail car experienced the issue. The Norfolk Southern train was shipping cargo from Madison in Illinois to Conway in Pennsylvania when it derailed. Despite an initial effort to extinguish the blaze, firefighters withdrew from the immediate area on Saturday as fears of toxic gases grew. Cars were still burning on Sunday afternoon, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said during a news conference. 'It got to the point where we needed to pull back and let the safety features of the cars themselves handle the situation,' Drabick said. Unmanned devices were then used protectively while 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 mayor Trent Conaway said at the news conference on Sunday. Air quality readings remained safe as of Saturday night. According to Graham the train consisted of 141 load cars, nine were empty, three were locomotives and ten in total contained hazardous material. Vinyl chloride, a colorless gas, is considered carcinogenic by the US National Cancer Institute and is used to make the white plastic PVC pipes often used in plumbing. 'It's an active fire scene,' said Graham. Low temperatures complicated the clear up efforts, as fire trucks pumping water onto the fire struggled with freezing conditions. Firefighters wore hazmat suits as they tackled the blaze. Around 2,000 residents, or just less than half of the town's 5,000 population, were asked to evacuate their homes. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #6 1969 Derailment and explosion in Laurel, MS January 25, 1969. Two fatalities resulted from injuries caused by the fires and explosions after the wreck, 33 persons were hospitalized. Property damage in the town was extensive and total damage to Southern Railway track, equipment and lading was estimated at about $3,000,000. |
| Posted by: Jise Elmeang4932 2023-02-06 10:52 |
| #5 I'm sure it's just a co-incidence that it happened in East Palestine.... |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2023-02-06 10:51 |
| #4 I’m glad that my local news... [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Shocking! |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-02-06 10:09 |
| #3 train crew received an alert about the mechanical defect I presume a hot box (bearing) detector, sent the alert, but perhaps it was already too late. Roller bearings seldom fail, but when they do, the axle end gets hot enough to melt and the car drops down onto the roadbed and starts a multi-car crash. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2023-02-06 09:06 |
| #2 Someone apparently remembered the Kingman BLEV explosion in 1973. I remember seeing photos of a huge piece the tank car 1,000' from the site of the explosion. Eleven firefighters were killed. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2023-02-06 08:43 |
| #1 I’m glad that my local news is of interest to the UK or I would never have known. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-02-06 07:00 |