MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Preparations began Friday to allow thousands of eastern Tennessee residents to return to their homes after a CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire.
About 5,000 people within a mile-and-a-half radius of the crash site were evacuated, along with several businesses, Thursday morning in Maryville. Most received urgent knocks at their doors between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday by emergency workers who told them they should leave immediately.
City Manager Greg McClain said Friday that officials were working on a plan to lift the evacuation. More details were expected at a news conference at noon Friday.
"We are ready to begin the process — it will be a process — to develop plans for repopulation, removing the evacuation in phases," he said.
The concern stemmed from the contents of the car that derailed: liquid acrylonitrile, which officials said is a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes including making plastics. It's flammable and it's dangerous if inhaled. The EPA says some effects of breathing acrylonitrile include headaches, dizziness, irritability and rapid heartbeat.
Eighty-seven people were treated at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, and 36 were admitted, hospital spokesman Josh West said. None had life-threatening injuries, but they were experiencing respiratory issues, skin irritation and nausea, West said.
One person was discharged early Friday, and the number of patients being released from the hospital was expected to increase throughout the day, West said.
Ten first responders were treated at the hospital after breathing fumes.