Derailment evacuation order ends

Tennesseans return home after all-clear on chemical hazard

Craig Camuso of CSX gives an update Friday in Maryville, Tenn., on Wednesday’s derailment, saying the cause is not yet known.
Craig Camuso of CSX gives an update Friday in Maryville, Tenn., on Wednesday’s derailment, saying the cause is not yet known.

MARYVILLE, Tenn. -- Thousands of eastern Tennessee residents were returning home Friday after they were evacuated when a CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed late Wednesday and caught fire.

An evacuation order was lifted for about 5,000 people who live within a mile-and-a-half radius of the crash scene, Maryville City Manager Greg McClain said during a Friday news conference.

Most of those evacuated received urgent knocks at their doors between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday by emergency workers who told them they should leave immediately.

The concern stemmed from the contents of the car that derailed: liquid acrylonitrile, a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes, including making plastics. It's flammable and can cause headaches, dizziness, irritability and rapid heartbeat if inhaled.

A byproduct of burning acrylonitrile is cyanide, and there were concerns that some would be contained in the fumes, Mitchell said.

After the derailment, 87 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 released from the hospital was expected to increase throughout the day, West said.

Officials said Friday that tests to monitor air quality showed no danger to residents.

"It is safe to go home," McClain said.

CSX has offered to reimburse people for expenses stemming from the sudden evacuation. Some evacuated residents were pleasantly surprised by hotel vouchers and an abundance of food and free ice cream.

CSX opened an outreach center for displaced residents. On Friday, most people at the shelter facility were getting food and water and filling out reimbursement forms.

Elizabeth Whitehead, 32, said she stayed with friends because she didn't find out about the hotel vouchers in time.

"It's exhausting," Whitehead said Friday. "We haven't had showers. ... It kind of makes you feel a little displaced."

Officials asked residents near the derailment site not to drink well water until they are told they can; officials said there was no indication yet whether well water was affected by the accident. CSX was providing bottled water to residents at a local middle school.

Kevin Eichinger, an on-scene coordinator with theEnvironmental Protection Agency, said air, water and soil samples were tested. McClain said air samples have been "very, very favorable," and Eichinger said the hazardous product did not appear to make it into a nearby creek.

The train, which had 57 cars and two locomotives, was traveling from Cincinnati to Waycross, Ga. Twenty-seven cars carried hazardous chemicals: nine with acrylonitrile, 16 with propane and two with asphalt, said Craig Camuso, CSX regional vice president for state government affairs.

He said the cause of the derailment was not yet known.

CSX said Friday that all but two cars involved in the derailment had been removed from the crash scene. One remaining car was the one that derailed; the other car contained the hazardous chemical but was not breached in the crash.

The Federal Railroad Administration said it had investigators and hazardous materials inspectors at the scene and would investigate the cause once it was safe to do so.

The National Transportation Safety Board is not investigating the accident, but will monitor it and could send an investigator later, board spokesman Terry Williams said in an email.

Information for this article was contributed by Adrian Sainz and Rebecca Yonker of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/04/2015

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