Note: Posted for those interested in tracking chemical spills, train accidents, etc.

ABC News Channel 11 just reported a train derailment at Whitehurst station, Pitt County, NC. Poison Chemicals onboard as reported by Bill Wilson, reporter for Channel 11 News. Photos of toxic smoke (according to report)...some people taken to shelters...concern for air/water contamination. Report listed Ethel Glycol onboard.

Don't have online link yet...will search. If anyone finds the link, please post. Thanks much.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

Here's a link... regular news so far ignoring it...

LINK

Information Added: Tuesday, February 1, 2000 - 6:10 PM
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Authorities evacuated a wide area of rural North Carolina Tuesday (2/1/2000) after a CSX freight train carrying phosphoric acid and other chemicals derailed and caught fire, spewing a plume of acrid, black smoke.

Ten cars from the 30-car train left the track and tumbled into Grindle Creek about 10:45 a.m., five miles east of this Pitt County community, said Pitt County spokesman Arlen Holt. At least four cars caught fire, he said.

No injuries were reported, but the potentially toxic dense smoke from the burning wreckage compelled officials to evacuate the sparsely populated area around the crash site.

"We've got a 10-mile area blocked off in Pitt and Martin counties," Holt said, adding that the evacuation order may stand through the night.

Holt said crews were trying to extinguish the fire so hazardous materials experts could remove the chemicals and evacuees can return home. A state Forest Service helicopter dumped buckets of water on the blaze Tuesday afternoon, and CSX brought in a flatbed rail car to be used as a water-pumping platform, he said.

He didn't know how many people were forced to leave the area. A shelter was set up at the Stokes Elementary School gymnasium.

"You can see the cloud from here. It has a dark tint to it," said Art Rouse, principal at North Pitt High School, about a mile west of the site.

Winds were blowing the cloud away from the school and students were not evacuated.

The train was hauling ethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze, as well as phosphoric acid, terephthlic acid and dichloroproprene, said Tom Ditt, a spokesman for the state emergency management office.

Phosphoric acid vapor burns skin on contact and lungs if inhaled, while antifreeze is toxic if swallowed, said John Meredith, emergency room physician and director of disaster services at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

Ditt said the state dispatched air and water quality experts and its regional response team from Williamston to aid Pitt County authorities.

Holt said the train was headed south when it went off the Grindle Creek trestle. One destination was the DuPont plant in Kinston, he said. CSX officials at the railroad's headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla., supplied no information on the derailment.

The accident occurred in a wetlands area. Runoff from the cars spilled into Grindle Creek, according to Tom Harris, a Pitt County forest ranger.

Pitt County sheriff's deputies set up road blocks to the south and west of the site along N.C. 11 and N.C. 903 leading to the Martin County line.



-- Carl (clilly@goentre.com), February 01, 2000.

Carl,

Thank you so much for finding this for me. Much appreciated.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

Newsday reported it.

(for educational purposes only)

"NC Derailment Spurs Evacuation

BETHEL, N.C. (AP) -- A CSX freight train carrying phosphoric acid and other chemicals derailed and caught fire Tuesday, spewing a plume of acrid, black smoke that forced authorities to evacuate a wide area.

Fifteen cars from the 38-car train left the track and tumbled into a creek about 10:45 a.m., said Pitt County spokesman Arlen Holt. At least four cars caught fire, he said.

No injuries were reported, but officials evacuate the sparsely populated area around the crash site. Phosphoric acid vapor can burn skin on contact and lungs if inhaled.

``We've got a 10-mile area blocked off,'' Holt said, adding that the evacuation order may stand through the night. He didn't know how many people were forced to leave.

The fires were extinguished late Tuesday night.

AP-NY-02-01-00 2317EST

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 02, 2000.

Finally saw a post on the AP wire over it, too... funny how they overlooked the spill into the water of the fatally toxic antifreeze chemicals, fatal if ingested, ie., drank...

Guess that wasn't important, huh?

-- Carl (clilly@goentre.com), February 02, 2000.

If you ever worked in a PR firm, you would know that the chemical companies pay big bucks to learn how to make the public's anxiety go away. These spills/train wrecks with chemicals, etc., will always be played down. They even train the company's public relations person in how to do a TV interview to make it look innocuous, in a "live" setting.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), February 02, 2000.

Rachel, Carl, Elaine...thank you for your input to this thread.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 02, 2000.