(The following story by Scheri Smith and Katya Cengel appeared on The Courier-Journal website on October 25.)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — About 200 homes in the Petersburg Estates subdivision were evacuated for about seven hours yesterday, after a chemical began leaking from a tank at the nearby Norfolk Southern terminal on Jennings Lane.
The chemical, thioglycol, an industrial solvent, began leaking from a valve as the tank was moved from a train car, said Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson, who spent several hours at the rail yard.
The leak was rated a Level 3 risk, the most serious, authorities said.
Two Norfolk Southern employees were taken to a hospital for observation, said Sgt. Julie Baines, a spokeswoman for the Camp Taylor Fire Protection District. No one else was reported injured.
The chemical is a colorless liquid, stable but combustible, with a foul odor, according to the Manufacturer Safety Data Sheet Web site.
Thioglycol is toxic if inhaled or ingested or if it comes in contact with skin, and exposure can irritate the eyes and respiratory system, the Web site said.
When the leak was spotted, eight to 10 railroad employees were working in the area, Baines said. Camp Taylor firefighters were sent to the yard, at 4705 Jennings Lane, about 2 p.m. after a call to 911.
Petersburg Estates was evacuated because the wind was carrying the fumes in that direction, Abramson said. “It smells like a rotten egg,” he said.
“To be really injured by it, it (the liquid) has to touch your skin,” he said.
People were allowed to return to their homes about 9 p.m. The cleanup was still going on, but the situation was judged safe enough to allow the residents back, Baines said.
Jennings Lane between Bishop Lane and Produce Road was closed to traffic.
Businesses around the spill, like Reynolds Metals Co., were evacuated, but because it was a Sunday, not many people were working, Baines said.
Residents of Petersburg Estates were asked to go to Indian Trail Elementary School, where the Red Cross had set up a center with drinks and food.
The neighborhood was not in immediate danger, but the evacuation was ordered as a precaution, said Col. Mike Riordan, chief of Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services.
The tank contained about 6,000 gallons of the chemical, and firefighters estimated it would take at least four hours to transfer the chemical to a new container. The chemical was leaking at the rate of about one paper cup per minute, Abramson said. The offloading started about 7 p.m.
Reporters were kept behind a line where they could not see the leaking tank. But they could see emergency workers don white safety suits, then enter the site.
Three other fire departments — Buechel, Okolona and McMahan — were called in later to help Camp Taylor.
Doug Hamilton, director of emergency management, told people at the school that it was unclear how the tank started leaking. “We don’t know if it was dropped” or if something ran into it, he said.
Emergency teams set up four air monitors around the neighborhood, Abramson said.
Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, who represents the area, was picnicking in Petersburg Park when she received a call from the mayor about the spill. About that same time, she said, firefighters started warning people to leave.
She and others packed up their food and left quickly.
Just after the mayor called, the odor arrived, Shanklin said. “A lot of people have headaches out here,” she said.
Metro Public Works dumped sand near the spill to help soak up the chemical. Water was not used to wash away the chemical because the reaction would form an acid, Riordan said.
At Indian Trail Elementary, most people appeared calm. Many were more upset over having their dinner interrupted than any danger.
Bobbie Lester said she was just sitting down to her meal when a firefighter told her she had to leave.
Lester, 47, a nurse, said she was upset that her dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes was growing cold. “I don’t want cold chicken,” she said.
When Abramson explained the situation to residents shortly after 5 p.m., Lester told him about her dinner.
He countered that he didn’t want to be there either — he said he had been gardening when he got the call, which explained his dirty gray T-shirt, jeans and baseball cap.
Tanya Linthicum wanted to know if her puppies would be safe. The mayor and EMS workers assured her they would be. The evacuation was a precaution, they said.
Pressed to explain the danger, Riordan said, “We always plan for the worst-case scenario.”
Neighbors Sherrie Bethea and Wanda Carson said they didn’t want to risk leaving their pets. Bethea, 46, said she took her dog, Pork Chop, because she feared what her son, Douglas Ealy, 17, would say if she didn’t.
For Carson, there wasn’t a question about leaving Benjamin, her dachshund. “I wouldn’t have left my child, so I took him.”
Milton Maddox, who brought his two sons and three grandsons to the school, said he had been watching football when he heard the knock on the door. “I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t mandatory,” he said.
People gathered around cars in the parking lot, playing with their pets, greeting neighbors and chatting.
About 7:20 p.m., the mayor returned with his son, Sid, 13, and told people they could probably return home in about two hours and shot hoops with the kids. Christopher Howlett, 12, asked for Abramson’s autograph, and his little brother, 9-year-old Trayvon, 9, ran up and gave the mayor a big hug.
(Staff writer Charles Paradis contributed to this story.)