(The Associated Press circulated the following on October 10.)
PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Several cars from a CSX train derailed in Painesville in northeast Ohio on Wednesday, setting off a large, smoky fire.
Authorities were evacuating a half-mile area, which included residential and business sites, said Leslie James, deputy clerk for the Painesville police department. There were no injuries reported.
The fire was under control, but authorities had yet to put water on it, instead letting it burn down because the train carried toxic chemicals, fire officials said.
Emergency environmental response teams were sent to the scene, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Mike Settles said.
The agency EPA was called at about 12:45 p.m. by the Lake County Health Department, he said. Initial information was that three cars were on fire, and more were derailed.
He said the first report said there were unspecified alcohol products carried by tank cars, but he had no other details.
A spokesman for Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX Corp. said there were some hazardous materials cars in the 112-car mixed freight train, but he couldn’t immediately say what they were carrying or how they were affected.
“We’re working to identify which cars are involved in the pileup,” spokesman Garrick Francis said.
A motorist who was driving on State Route 44 near the crash at about noon said he heard an explosion and saw a white flash out of the corner of his eye.
“I looked and an oil tanker exploded. Flames shot 50, 60 feet in the air. Other cars were thrown off the tracks and dumped grain that started burning,” Michael Wright told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer by phone.
The tracks are about 300 yards from a road, so firefighters were having trouble reaching the fire, he said.
Francis said the two-locomotive train was headed from Collingwood to Buffalo, N.Y.