Ohio residents near train derailment scared to return home

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Some residents of an Ohio village who evacuated Friday after a train derailment said they are worried that they won’t be able to live in East Palestine anymore.
• Railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars.
• An official said there is still no timeline for when residents will be allowed to return to their homes.

Nearly 2000 residents living in an Ohio village near where a train derailed on Friday in East Palestine are expressing concerns about returning home. Even after an emergency evacuation order is lifted, some even said they may never return. 

In a news conference on Tuesday, Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency Director Peggy Clark said that there is still no timeline for when residents will be allowed to return to their homes.

“We are working as hard as we can. But public safety is our utmost importance,” Clark told reporters. She added that authorities took “air sampling” and “expected them to be reviewing the data overnight. And we’ll see what the data comes back at.” I can’t speculate what the data’s going to say, they have to do their testing,” Clark told reporters.”

On Sunday, evacuation orders were issued after a train derailment caused a massive fire Friday night that was still burning into Saturday morning. The train, which had more than 50 cars, had five train cars carrying hazardous materials and potentially explosive chemicals.

Railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars.

“That controlled release was the one explosion. It went as planned. It seemed to be a successful incident,” an Ohio Emergency Management Agency spokesperson said.

There were no reported injuries both from the derailment on Friday night and Monday’s operation.

Some East Palestine residents who evacuated Friday said they are worried that they won’t be able to live in East Palestine anymore for their own safety. 

Some do not wish to return, but many are still waiting for officials to give them the all-clear signal. On Tuesday, contractors continued to release toxic chemicals from the crash site.

East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said he wants “nothing more than to get my residents back home.”

“We’ve been focusing largely on the air quality within that one-mile evacuation zone,” Environmental Protection Agency official James Justice said Tuesday night.

EPA investigators had so far been seeing “very few detections” of dangerous chemical fumes, Justice added. “And the detections we have been seeing for the chemicals we’re monitoring for have been very low.” 

Four cars have been cleared from the wreckage and officials were working to get the fifth car clear. The cars will be inspected by the National Transportation Safety Board.

According to investigators, the derailment was caused by a mechanical issue with a rail car axle.

Source: CBS News