(The following story by Christine Haines appeared on the Herald-Standard website on July 10, 2009.)
LUZERNE TWP., Pa. — A section of Alicia Road was closed for three hours Wednesday night and early Thursday after a train crew smelled ammonia fumes coming from an empty tanker car.
Jim Bittner, the planning and training officer for the Fayette County Emergency Management office, said the crew was doing a routine inspection of the train in the Norfolk Southern rail yard about 500 yards north of the Consol Coal Yard on Alicia Road when the anhydrous ammonia odor was discovered.
“We received the call from the Norfolk-Southern police who requested the HAZMAT team,” Bittner said.
Bittner said the Hiller Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene, as did Fayette County HAZMAT, South Brownsville, Luzerne Township (LaBelle) and Brownsville No. 1 (North Side), and the Hiller EMS squad.
Bittner said the emergency responders used the Consol Coal yard as their staging area and employees at the company were evacuated as a precaution.
“There really was no hazard to the area around it unless you were right up next to the car,” Bittner said.
Anhydrous ammonia is considered a toxic gas and if a large amount of the chemical had been present and spilled an area up to 1.4 miles downwind of the area would have been evacuated, Bittner said. According to Bittner, a small spill of 50 gallons or less calls for evacuating a tenth of a mile area. Bittner said none of the chemical spilled from the rail car.
“It was contained to the vessel itself. It was a pressure control valve with a faulty O-ring,” Bittner said of the fumes.
Bittner said the emergency crews remained on the scene to assist a clean-up crew contracted with Norfolk Southern.
Hiller Fire Chief Scott Dolan said Alicia Road was closed as a precaution while crews were on the scene, since the tracks are adjacent to the road.