ethanol train derailment causes fire and evacuations!

I just learned that a 62 car freight train of carrying a load of ethanol derailed today and was on route from chicago to North carolina,the total of tank cars involved was 15-18,and 20 homes had to be evacuated,thankfully,no one was killed or injured (according to what I was reading) in this near tragic situation and was allowed to return,this happened near Arcadia,Ohio!

Very near

I live in Findlay, which, happens to be in the same county.It is sad that this happened, but the location, while burning some property, was in a very open area. had the train continued two miles more and derailed, it would have been inside Arcadia, a few miles more and it would have been inside of fostoria. About 80 trains per day travel that track alone, and from the pictures I have personally seen, it will be some time before service is restored. As of right now, they are going to let the excess fuel burn out for the next few days, as 2 tankers have not ruptured, but could potentially explode. On a side note, this being my native area i have been working on this particular area of northwestern Ohio in trainz lately and plan to have it out soon. With some minor changes to this now scorched area.

it was west of there and the time of the accident was 2:15 am this morning,and the train was hauling 30,00 gallons!

each car was loaded with i believe to be 23,000 gallons. As of right now, after speaking to a NS official. their game plan is, and currently undergoing has been, bring in 50 workers to place foam on the cars, and bulldoze the wreckage from the line. Tear the stretch of track up, replace it and have the line funcionable by 6Am Monday morning. If your keeping track thats less than 24 hours of down time.

I caught this story on the local news, I believe.

Regards.

LOL, lethal load of Ethanol. Way to blow that out of proportion.

If I remember correctly ethanol is just alcohol... Definitely not an inhalation hazard.

Hi everybody.
As someone who has spent the latter stages of his career working in health and safety for the road haulage industry I can state that Ethanol is a class III hazardous substance and therefore can be highly dangerous in an uncontrolled environment. I have just looked it up on the company website and here are the hazards and health and safety practices in the event of contact:-

Ethanol is a highly flammable and harmful substance. If ingested, it may be fatal and may be absorbed through the skin. The vapours can irritate the eyes. Ethanol may cause eye damage, nausea, dizziness, headache and central nervous system depression.

If ethanol comes in contact with skin, flush with large amounts of water for At least 15 minutes. You should also remove contaminated clothing and shoes, and wash before reusing. If the substance is inhaled, move to fresh air and give respiratory aid if needed. For ingestion, give large amounts of water and call a physician.

No mean substance and I would think someone's head would be on the block over this accident

Bill

It’s good to hear that no-one was hurt as a result of this incident.

Back in 2009 we were travelling northwards through Italy by train the day after the Viareggio derailment and explosion where 29 people were killed. Our train journey had to terminate at Pisa, where all passengers were taken by a fleet of buses to board another train at La Spezia, north of the accident, for our onward journey.

We have travelled by train past the scene of the accident twice since then. The area affected is enormous and quite erie. It is very unsettling to see.

It is thought that a broken axle on one of the LPG tankers caused the derailment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Viareggio_train_derailment

Casper

Update

I've actually heard a few stories today. While trying to clear burning wreckage, a NS worker was burned. And at 4AM Sunday morning, after the engine and buffer had escaped, a train came in from the west and pulled 30 cars (20 Million in cargo) away. a car had to be severed. NS police told a friend, had these cars exploded, and surely killed this man. Who was acting without orders, against procedure, they would have had to say it was his own fault. Which it is, but it is a courageous story from this terrible mess. People being poisoned was a concern, but it is unlikely. there are spots of this on the ground still, but a main worry was it seeping into ground wells.

mezzoprezzo said:

It’s good to hear that no-one was hurt as a result of this incident.

Back in 2009 we were travelling northwards through Italy by train the day after the Viareggio derailment and explosion where 29 people were killed. Our train journey had to terminate at Pisa, where all passengers were taken by a fleet of buses to board another train at La Spezia, north of the accident, for our onward journey.

We have travelled by train past the scene of the accident twice since then. The area affected is enormous and quite erie. It is very unsettling to see.

It is thought that a broken axle on one of the LPG tankers caused the derailment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Viareggio_train_derailment

Casper

Click to expand...

As of right now, no cause has been found, or released. But 10 minutes before, a woman claimed to hear rattling from the tracks, unusual rattling. I Before someone claims it was normal noise, let it be know, she has lived near these tracks for many years and that 50-80 trains travel this track every day.

wholbr said:

Hi everybody.
As someone who has spent the latter stages of his career working in health and safety for the road haulage industry I can state that Ethanol is a class III hazardous substance and therefore can be highly dangerous in an uncontrolled environment. I have just looked it up on the company website and here are the hazards and health and safety practices in the event of contact:-

Ethanol is a highly flammable and harmful substance. If ingested, it may be fatal and may be absorbed through the skin. The vapours can irritate the eyes. Ethanol may cause eye damage, nausea, dizziness, headache and central nervous system depression.

If ethanol comes in contact with skin, flush with large amounts of water for At least 15 minutes. You should also remove contaminated clothing and shoes, and wash before reusing. If the substance is inhaled, move to fresh air and give respiratory aid if needed. For ingestion, give large amounts of water and call a physician.

No mean substance and I would think someone's head would be on the block over this accident

Bill

Click to expand...

Ethanol: Grain alchohol made from corn. See moonshine. Now, this being said, the ethanol being hauled by the train was probably not pure. At the plants they denature the Ethanol by mixing it with a predetermined ammount of gasoline to cut down on people drinking it. It will make you sick, and the alcohol content does have the ability to kill you, but it is still just alcohol and gas. But yes, it is a class III, and it is flammable. Odd thing is that I have actually been trained in the NORAC rules for handling ethanol from when I worked on a railroad for a bit.

when I worked on a railroad for a bit.

Click to expand...

And what railroad was that? And I wasn't aware that NORAC gives you training on handling hazmats..

Hi Everybody.

jadebullet said:

Ethanol: Grain alchohol made from corn. See moonshine. Now, this being said, the ethanol being hauled by the train was probably not pure. At the plants they denature the Ethanol by mixing it with a predetermined ammount of gasoline to cut down on people drinking it. It will make you sick, and the alcohol content does have the ability to kill you, but it is still just alcohol and gas. But yes, it is a class III, and it is flammable. Odd thing is that I have actually been trained in the NORAC rules for handling ethanol from when I worked on a railroad for a bit.

Click to expand...

jadebullet, I do not understand why you would be assuming that ethanol hauled by rail would not be pure. Also certainly in the United Kingdom the tank would have to carry a "haz chem” label advising what the substance was and the hazards attributed to it.

The above is done so that emergency personnel arriving on-site of an accident are aware of the hazards prevailing and take appropriate precautions. If if the substance in the tanks is not exactly what is stated on the label then the company involved can be heavily penalized and have their chemical licenses removed.

Should there be any deaths or injuries due to the fact that the emergency services were not aware of the substances involved then directors of a company producing or handling the substance can be charged with up to corporate manslaughter.

As someone who still does " route cause accident investigation” the first rule of health and safety is you always treat substances and situations with what could be the maximum injury to personnel involved in any workplace practice or situation. YOU NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. That's how people get killed.

If it said ethanol on the tanks then that is what is in them with all the hazards I placed in my earlier posting. if you doubt that go to the British Health and Safety Executive website and you will find the ethanol hazard listing.

Bill

Oh, don't get me wrong, Ethanol is Hazmat, but it is mainly due to its flammability.

As for assuming that it isn't pure, that isn't an assumption. Ethanol plants in the US are required to denature the ethanol by mixing it with 15% gasoline in order to prevent people from drinking it. That's why loads into an ethanol plant are grain and gas, while loads out are just ethanol. It might be different in the UK, but that is how it is here.

And yes, it is poisonous to drink to some extent, but that is more of an "it's alchohol" thing than a "it has gas in it" thing.

Oh, as for the railroad, it was when I worked for Central Penn, my brother in law's railroad. When I worked for him we still had the contract for the line between Honesdale, PA, and Lackawaxen, PA. They were going to be putting an Ethanol plant near Lackawaxen and the railroad was supposed to have the contract to move the freight, so we had to be trained in the NORAC regulations for moving hazmat, including spacer cars, air brakes, ect. Sadly, someone at the Morristown and Erie decided that they wanted a 1:1 scale model railroad, so they pulled some strings and sniped the contract out from under Central Penn.

If it said ethanol on the tanks then that is what is in them with all the hazards I placed in my earlier posting. if you doubt that go to the British Health and Safety Executive website and you will find the ethanol hazard listing.

Click to expand...

It doesn't have to say Ethanol on the side of the cars, it has to have it's correct HAZMAT placard, shippers documentation and emergency contact the number.

jadebullet said:

Oh, don't get me wrong, Ethanol is Hazmat, but it is mainly due to its flammability.

As for assuming that it isn't pure, that isn't an assumption. Ethanol plants in the US are required to denature the ethanol by mixing it with 15% gasoline in order to prevent people from drinking it. That's why loads into an ethanol plant are grain and gas, while loads out are just ethanol. It might be different in the UK, but that is how it is here.

And yes, it is poisonous to drink to some extent, but that is more of an "it's alchohol" thing than a "it has gas in it" thing.

Click to expand...

Obviously jade I can only speak for the United Kingdom Haz Chem regulations and the handling of products covered by those regulations. Ethanol is a recognized attributable name for a hazardous chemical and its chemical makeup would be listed and known to the emergency services when arriving at any spillage or accident. The appropriate PPEs (personal protective equipment) and procedures would automatically then come into play while the incident was ongoing.

The difference may be with United Kingdom regulations which state that if any recognized product element is changed or degraded then the "Haz Chem" sign on the tank must also be changed. If the change makes the chemical makeup different in any way from the recognized name then the sign must bear all elements contained within the tank. That is why you sometimes see in the United Kingdom tankers running with (example ethanol), while on another occasion the sign would just contain numbers and letters which will inform all handlers and the emergency services of the chemical elements contained in the tank.

If the above sounds complicated the reason for it is simple. Emergency services arriving at the scene of an incident such as ethanol would immediately put on all the appropriate PPEs for that chemical (breathing apparatus etc). That takes time, and in that time people could be trapped injured and dying for lack of rescue.

That is why in the UK it is viewed to be operationally very hazardous to not have the correct sign on the product. Product having signs which contain more hazards than there are on board is equally as dangerous as signs which do not list all the hazards in the tank. Both can be deadly to the accident victims and the emergency service workers

Bill