SPENCER, Ohio — About 60 residents forced to flee the Medina County village of Spencer on Sunday afternoon because of a toxic chemical leak from a railroad tanker car were told they could return to their homes late last night, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
No one was injured when 2-ethylexyl chloroformate leaked from a PPG Industries tanker car being hauled by a Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway train, Spencer Police Chief Daniel DeRossett said.
The leak was discovered by a railroad conductor.
The chemical, used in plastics manufacturing, is a clear and colorless liquid that can cause moderate to serious irritation of the respiratory tract when it is inhaled.
The Spencer Town Hall was made available to 15 or so families living within a half-mile radius of the chemical leak, DeRossett said, but all those who were evacuated ended up staying with family and friends.
The evacuation order was lifted about 11 p.m. Monday, said Larry O’Reilly, a PPG spokesman. O’Reilly said the contents of the rail car were transferred Monday into four tanker trucks by officials from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, PPG Industries and local and county fire and hazardous materials officials. The tanker trucks were driven to PPG’s Barberton plant. The rail car was expected to be removed early today, O’Reilly said.
As many as 100 emergency workers had been at the scene Sunday, working through the night.
Nick Kostecki said he and four other employees of Kostecki Excavating of Spencer built a 2,000-foot-long road across a field early Monday so that tanker trucks could get to and from the railroad where the leaking car was located.
The company also erected a dike to contain any leaked chemicals at the site, Kostecki said.
Kara Allison, a spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA, said about 50 gallons of 2-ethylexyl chloroformate leaked from the 20,000-gallon tanker car.
The chemical had been leaking at a rate of about one gallon per hour, she said.
Jeff Worden, a spokesman for PPG Industries in Pittsburgh, said the rail tanker came from a PPG facility in LaPorte, Texas, and was on its way to the company’s Barberton plant.
“We are working very hard to take care of this matter in a quick and efficient and safe manner so that the folks who are inconvenienced can get back to their homes and lives as soon as possible,” Worden said.
He said PPG is investigating the incident to determine how the leak occurred.
The amount of chemical being pumped from the leaky rail car was expected to fill five tanker trucks, Worden said.
DeRossett said when a railroad conductor inspected the train in Norwalk earlier in the afternoon Sunday, the tanker car was not leaking.