(The following article was posted on the Marietta Times website on March 13.)
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A portion of Corridor D was closed and a bar and auto-body shop were evacuated Sunday evening as crews dealt with a small chemical leak along the Little Kanawha River near the Hank Greenburg Field.
No injuries were reported.
Parkersburg Fire Chief Steve Gainer said a small amount of hydrochloric acid leaked from a railroad car, which was sitting on a sidetrack with several other cars near the ballfield. He said the sidetrack is owned by Little Kanawha Railroad.
Gainer said there was no danger, but the road was closed and the handful of people from the nearby auto shop and a bar at the corner of East and Depot streets were evacuated as a precaution.
“It’s really better to be safe than sorry, so the captain (Doug Life) evacuated the area,” he said.
There were no houses near the area.
Gainer said the leak came from a valve which keeps pressure from building inside the chemical car.
“My guess was the car was loaded at a cooler temperature and when it got warmer, it is natural for it to vent,” he said.
Gainer said officials learned of the leak when someone walked into the department’s Station 6 on Camden Avenue and reported it around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Corridor D was first closed from Interstate 77 to the Juliana Street interchange. That was later reduced to the area from Staunton Avenue to Division Street when officials learned the leak was not serious, Gainer said.
Eastbound and westbound traffic on Corridor D was still blocked and the East Street Bridge remained closed at 11 p.m. Sunday. Officials reported that a hazmat team sent from New Martinsville to fix the leak had just arrived at the scene.
Traffic flow was returned to normal about 11:30 p.m. after the leak was repaired.
The Parkersburg Fire Department, Wood County Emergency Services, the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection, Parkersburg Police Department, the railroad, and hazmat advisers from DuPont Washington Works responded to the scene