(The following article was posted on the Cincinnati Post website on August 29.)
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Cincinnati fire and police officials expanded an evacuation zone near Lunken Airport today after a rail car that began leaking Sunday evening began emitting a new plume of fumes.
The new emission began shortly before 7 a.m.
“This is an ongoing situation,” said District Fire Chief Dave Collini. “The city manager and police chief are being notified,” he said.
At about 6:45 a.m. the area of Kellogg and Salem avenues in the city’s East End remained evacuated and a shelter-in-place warning remained in effect for Cincinnati’s Hyde Park and Oakley neighborhoods as a result of two emissions from the tanker Sunday
Classes were cancelled today at McKinley elementary school because of the chemical emissions.
On Sunday, the Cincinnati Fire Department initially ordered the evacuation of residents within a 1,000-foot radius of the leak near 422 Wilmer Road.
Police also closed sections of Columbia Parkway, Airport Road, Eastern Avenue and Wilmer Avenue. There was also a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding neighborhoods of Columbia Tusculum, Mount Lookout and Hyde Park.
A shelter-in-place order requires residents to stay indoors with windows closed and air conditioners off.
The leak occurred when a valve on the tanker car lost pressure and caused styrene, a chemical used in the manufacture of paint, to escape in a large white plume. Styrene can cause damage to the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
The car, which contained 175,000 gallons of the chemical, was to be taken to a nearby Queen City Rail terminal, fire officials said.
“Styrene is slightly heavier than air, so it was starting to stay low on Eastern Avenue. We started knocking the fumes down with an unmanned nozzle from 200 feet away,” said Collini
Cynthia Pursell was visiting her daughter, who lives in the 4100 block of Eastern Avenue, when a neighbor told them police were evacuating.
“They said something about the train having chemicals on it and the train was burning,” she said. “We’re standing outside about four houses away.”
While the tanker car did not catch fire, the large white plume, which reached almost 100 feet high at times, was a major cause of concern for residents.
“I thought it was a derailment,” said Mark McPherson. “I heard they were going door to door, but I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”
He explained that the evacuations ended at 4300 Eastern Avenue and he lives in the next block.
McPherson said he immediately recognized the odor as styrene, which he uses in his job as a fabricator. He said he doesn’t worry too much about living close to the railroad tracks but he knows a derailed tanker can do a lot of harm.
At about 10 p.m. firefighters began to reopen roads and reduced the evacuation area to a 500-foot vicinity around the leak. Crews remained on hand throughout the night to monitor the leak.