About 30 residences near a Norfolk Southern rail line were evacuated early Sunday after a train derailed and some of its cars carrying ethanol exploded in Arcadia, Ohio.
No injuries were reported when 26 cars derailed from the 62-car eastbound train at 2:20 a.m. near the Cass-Washington township line in northeast Hancock County, authorities said. Each of the cars, carrying about 33,000 gallons each of denatured ethanol — ethanol spiked with a small amount of gasoline so that it is not suitable for human consumption — caught fire, with some exploding into fireballs.
By mid-afternoon, as the explosion risk diminished, many of the evacuated residents had been allowed to return home, but eight residences within a mile of the derailment site remained off-limits indefinitely.
Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman, said the derailed cars were near the front of the train. Fire officials said the train’s locomotives and first two cars were pulled safely away from the derailed cars after the accident.
The full story is on the Toledo Blade website.