Ohio plans ‘controlled release’ of toxic chemicals after train derailment
Misty Severi
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Ohio authorities said they are planning to release potentially toxic fumes into the air Monday afternoon after five train cars carrying toxic chemicals were part of a major derailment over the weekend.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) instructed residents around East Palestine to evacuate the area on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Authorities believe most of the residents have left the area, but at least 10 people were still in their homes on the Pennsylvania side on Sunday.
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“You need to leave. You just need to leave. This is a matter of life and death,” DeWine said at a Monday press conference.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) urged the 10 residents of his state to flee the area. He said if he were in the area with his wife, he would also leave. Only 20 Pennsylvania residents were in the evacuation zone.
“This is very serious,” Shapiro said. “I want you to know that if I were there right now, if the first lady and our children were there right now, we would evacuate. We would leave this area. It is potentially too dangerous.”
Authorities chose to release the chemicals after noting a potentially dangerous temperature change occurred in one of the railway cars. The change could cause the car to explode, and authorities would not be able to control that.
In order to safely get rid of the chemical, vinyl chloride, authorities will use a small charge to blow a hole in the cars. That will allow the material to go into a trench and burn off before it’s released into the air, Scott Deutsch of Norfolk Southern Railway told the Associated Press.
The chemicals stem from a fiery crash of 50 railway cars Friday. The crash included 10 cars that carried hazardous materials. Five carried vinyl chloride. Federal investigators believe the derailment was caused by a mechanical problem with a car axle. No injuries were reported from the fire, including among the three-person railway crew.
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The release process is expected to take between one and three hours, but it’s not clear how long until residents would be allowed back home.