Derailed 2016 Movie
Athina Dollison
In this photo provided by Melissa Smith, a train fire is seen from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. A train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order in the Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night, covering the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below. (Melissa Smith via AP)
This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
About 50 cars derailed in East Palestine at about 9 p.m. EST Friday as a train was carrying a variety of products from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, rail operator Norfolk Southern said Saturday. There was no immediate information about what caused the derailment. No injuries or damage to structures were reported.
Fire Chief Keith Drabick said officials were most concerned about the vinyl chloride and referenced one car containing that chemical but said safety features on that car were still functioning. Emergency crews would keep their distance until Norfolk Southern officials told them it was safe to approach, Drabick said.
Firefighters were pulled from the immediate area and unmanned streams were used to protect some areas including businesses that might also have contained materials of concern, officials said. Freezing temperatures in the single digits complicated the response as trucks pumping water froze, Conaway said.
Village officials warned residents that they might hear explosions due to the fire. They said drinking water was safe despite discoloration due to the volume being pumped the fight the blaze. Some runoff had been detected in streams but rail officials were working to stem that and prevent it from going downstream, officials said.
Norfolk Southern opened an assistance center in the village to take information from affected residents and also said it was supporting the efforts of the American Red Cross and their temporary community shelters through a $25,000 donation.
Elizabeth Parker Sherry said her 19-year-old son was heading to Walmart to pick up a new TV in time for the Super Bowl when he called her outside to see the flames and black smoke billowing toward their home. She said she messaged her mother to get out of her home next to the tracks, but all three of them and her daughter then had to leave her own home as crews went door-to-door to tell people to leave the evacuation zone.
Water is pumped into a creek for aeration in East Palestine, Ohio, on Tuesday, more than a week after a train derailment released toxic chemicals. Angelo Merendino/Getty Images hide caption
"From the very start of this, we have taken every step possible to assure that people's safety was first and foremost," Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the director of the Ohio Department of Health, said at a Tuesday press conference.
Some residents have reported headaches and rashes in the days since the derailment. And many have expressed frustration at what they say is a lack of answers from the railroad company and public officials.
On Wednesday night, those worries bubbled over in a raucous town hall meeting. "I feel the entire city, and I feel our leaders, everybody, is letting us down," homeowner Aaron Bragg told Ideastream Public Media.
On Feb. 3, just before 9 p.m. ET, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, a town of about 4,800 people near the border with Pennsylvania. Nobody was hurt in the accident, officials say.
Most of the train's 150 rail cars were carrying cargo that was not hazardous, officials say, such as cement, steel and frozen vegetables, according a manifest of the derailed cars provided to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Surveillance video from a home near the crash site recorded "what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment," investigators said this week.
Inhalation of vinyl chloride can cause respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath, along with neurological symptoms like headaches and dizziness. Chronic exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride has been associated with liver damage and cancer, according to the CDC.
This week, the EPA released a partial Norfolk Southern manifest that detailed other hazardous chemicals on the train, which included ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene. All can cause irritation or neurological symptoms like dizziness and headaches.
One tank car lost its entire load of butyl acrylate, a clear liquid used to make paint, adhesives and caulk. The New Jersey Department of Health warns that exposure to butyl acrylate can cause headache, dizziness, nausea and irritation to the nose, throat and lungs.
Ultimately, officials decided to pursue a "controlled release" of the volatile vinyl chloride. Because burning vinyl chloride can cause the production of other toxic chemicals, including hydrogen chloride and phosgene, officials ordered the evacuation of a one-by-two-mile area around East Palestine, on both sides of the state line.
Since the fire was put out, air monitoring conducted by the EPA has not detected "any levels of health concern" in the area that would be connected to the train derailment, the agency said this week.
"The good news is, by the time we were at the decision point for potentially bringing people who had evacuated back into an impacted area, we had on hand air testing that told us that the air really looked pretty much like it did before this event ever happened," said Vanderhoff of the Ohio Department of Health.
Rob McFadden sits outside East Palestine High School as community members line up to attend a meeting about the train derailment. He brought packages of bottled water to give away. Ryan Loew/Ideastream Public Media hide caption
The release of chemicals caused the deaths of 3,500 fish in the days following the derailment, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated. Department officials said there is no evidence of an increase in fish deaths since those early days, and that there are no signs of harm to other types of animals.
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