(The following story by Mark E. Vogler appeared on the Eagle Tribune website on May 9.)
LAWRENCE, Mass. — A railroad tanker car laden with 250,000 pounds of a potentially dangerous chemical was ripped open and derailed early last night, spilling a white sandy powder over tracks near the Andover Street crossing at Blanchard Street.
About a dozen homes were evacuated about 5 p.m. as an army of state and local hazardous material clean-up crews, firefighters and police moved in to contain the powder.
“We want to make sure we don’t create a dust cloud — that’s the most hazardous form of this material,” Lawrence fire Chief Peter Takvorian said of the chemical sodium chlorate, which leaked out a gaping hole in the side of the car which came to a stop in the railroad yard near the crossing.
“If it gets airborne in a cloud, that’s our worst concern. As long as we go slowly and carefully, that can’t happen,” Takvorian said at the scene last night.
Public safety officials were also concerned about other potential hazards of the oxidizing agent that is mostly used to produce chlorine dioxide for bleaching paper pulp. The chemical becomes hot and potentially explosive if it comes in contact with wood, paper or other combustible materials.
Though officials lifted the evacuation and allowed people to return to their homes after nearly five hours, precautions were still being observed today.
Some streets remain closed today
Andover Street from Parker Street to South Broadway was expected to remain closed today as the clean-up continued and MBTA and Railroad police conducted their investigation into what caused the derailment.
Preliminary reports indicated the car carrying 250,000 pounds of the sodium chlorate apparently came off the track after a malfunction or breakup of one of its wheels. Once off the track, it collided with a car on another track, causing the side of the chemical car to rupture, Lawrence police Chief John Romero said.
“There’s a gaping hole in the side of the car, which means it had to have come in contact with another train car,” Romero said.
“How it happened and why it happened will be a matter for the MBTA police as well as the B & M Railroad police,” Romero said.
The chief said commuter rail service was expected to resume in time for the early morning commute today with some restrictions regarding the speeding through the area.
After closing off the hole on the side of the railroad car with steel plates and wrapping it with a special sealant, a crane was brought in after midnight to lift it back onto the track and move it to an isolated area.
Meanwhile, crews from ENPRO Environmental Services of Newburyport worked into the early morning hours on decontamination efforts.
Powder spread over tracks
One company employee estimated the debris field along the railroad tracks spanned from 250 to 300 yards, measuring an average of four to six inches wide and about an inch deep.
There were some clumps about 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide in the most concentrated part of the spill.
Firefighters and police responded at about 4:45 p.m. and blocked off the section of Andover Street bounded by Parker Street on one end and South Broadway on the other. The fire department began evacuating residents of Andover Street about 5 p.m.
Lawrence School Committee member Greg Morris, who is also president of South Lawrence East baseball league, said he was warned to watch out as his Little League teams played on the school’s fields.
“It’s a windy day, and it’s blowing this way,” Morris said.
A temporary shelter was set up at South Lawrence East School, but it was closed at about 9:30 p.m., said Rick Young of the Haverhill-based American Red Cross of the Merrimack Valley.
Only two people checked in at the shelter. They were allowed to return to their homes.
“We got enough food for 150 people. Downtown Wendy’s, Dominos Pizza and Sal’s Pizza provided more than enough food for all the workers and people affected,” Young said.
Auxiliary Lawrence police Chief Jay Jackson and about a dozen volunteer members of the Lawrence Auxiliary Police helped control crowds and direct traffic, which was blocked off at the intersections of South Broadway and Andover Street, Salem and Blanchard streets, Andover and Parker streets, Farnum and Blanchard streets.
Public safety officials faced a major problem with the traffic because the incident happened shortly before the 5 p.m. rush hour, Jackson said.
State Police, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection agents and several neighboring fire departments also sent crews.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Hazardous Material Response Team Operational Response Unit arrived along with several other state vehicles.
Patriot Ambulance was used to evacuate people from homes on the east side of State Street and three homes on Andover Street near the railroad crossing. The Lawrence Police Mobile Command Post was set up at the intersection of Andover and State streets.
City Councilor David Abdoo, who represents the District F South Lawrence West section of the city, said MBTA officials at North Station announced that the train to Haverhill had been canceled due to mechanical problems.
“They were advising people on the Lowell train that it was going to be crowded so to please make room for the additional people,” said Abdoo, who rides the Lowell train to his job in Boston each day.
“They didn’t mention anything about the train derailment. They handled the situation very calmly. I haven’t heard of anything like this happening before, and I lived here all my life,” he said.
Fire Chief Takvorian said he couldn’t recall of a similar railyard incident during his time with the department.
(Reporters Jim Patten, Drake Lucas and Crystal Bozek contributed to this report.)