(The Southern Illinoisan posted the following article by Christi Mathis on its website on February 11.)
TAMAROA, Ill. — The cause of Sunday morning’s hazardous materials train derailment on the Canadian National Railroad in downtown Tamaroa remains unknown, and flash fires led to a scare early Tuesday.
“At approximately 3:09 a.m. there were two flare-ups at the site that were dealt with by personnel on the scene,” said David Searby Jr., operations director of the Du Quoin Emergency Services Disaster Agency. “This caused us to reassess the re-entry situation. We will not allow anybody to enter until we are sure they will be safe.”
Safety officials did allow about 200 of the 1,000 people forced from their homes to return Tuesday. Officials said readings continue to show no contamination to the air, water or soil beyond the immediate crash site, and they hope even more people will be able to return home today.
The fireball from the flash fires caused by leaking methanol quickly died out, and personnel returned to resume eliminating what officials said was the most dangerous situation — a breached tanker filled with vinyl chloride. The tanker had a hole in the top, but wasn’t leaking.
Vinyl chloride is particularly volatile, so it was transferred to another tanker in a lengthy process that wasn’t completed until about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Officials said they were relieved when the transfer was complete, and then went to work on cars at the south end of the crash site.
They also decided to shrink the evacuation zone from a three-mile radius of the crash to a one-mile radius. That means rural residents are allowed home, but those who live inside Tamaroa are still displaced.
The derailment involved 21 cars containing hydrochloric acid, vinyl chloride, methanol and formaldehyde. Tamaroa Mayor William Place said he has spent much time at the crash site and has seen no damage to any homes.
“The site is very well-contained, and that’s where any problem would be,” Place said. He said there is a “hot zone” that measures about one block by 800 feet, where no one but hazardous materials crews in special gear are allowed. Place said that “probably half of that hot zone is in my yard.”
“It’s a mess, though,” Place said. “There are huge amounts of heavy equipment, lots of mud. It’s a muddy mess.”
He said there will not be school in Tamaroa on Thursday, and Wednesday night’s village board meeting has been postponed indefinitely.
Because of the “orange alert” the country is under, the involvement of hazardous chemicals and the proximity to an FBI office in Carbondale, the FBI was called in Sunday shortly after the wreck to assess the situation, state police Capt. Charles Mays said. He said it was just “as a precaution,” and that “within a few hours the opinion was it was not a terrorist attack.”
Officials said it might be some time before the cause of the derailment is determined and right now all agree that the priority is getting the damaged rail cars emptied, the mess cleaned up and people returned to their homes.
A town meeting was held at the Du Quoin American Legion on Tuesday night. The facility was packed with people wanting information. They were promised that entrances to the town would be staffed by police, and that the railroad would provide quick reimbursement for expenses.
Sheriff Keith Kellerman said his department has escorted about 100 people home to retrieve their pets, and farmers were taken to feed livestock.