(The following article by Brandy Warren was posted on the Courier-Journal website on January 20.)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Loaded into pickups, about a dozen Bullitt County families with homes near the site of last week’s fiery train wreck were allowed to return briefly yesterday.
For some, it was a bittersweet visit.
“It felt good to go home and see it. It was a relief to see everything was still in place,” said Brenda Burden, whose home has some exterior smoke damage but no damage inside. “But having to leave was really hard.”
Still, many said they were relieved by what they saw.
“Where the accident happened, it looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off,” said resident Steve Smith. “But our house, it looked fine.”
No one was killed or had to be hospitalized overnight as a result of last Tuesday’s wreck, which involved 25 of the train’s 80 cars.
Smith and others living along Angela Drive and Huber Station Road attended an hourlong private meeting yesterday at the Zoneton Fire District Station, where officials from CSX, the Environmental Protection Agency and the county’s health department briefed them on what they would see and smell at the site.
Residents, who were driven to their homes by local fire officials, didn’t have to wear masks or take special precautions for the 45-minute visits.
Zoneton Fire Chief Rob Orkies said families were allowed to retrieve necessary items and check on animals left behind. Some brought cages to take the pets.
John Bastin of the state’s emergency management division said officials have received no reports of dead animals.
Cleaners, paid by CSX, will come later.
“We’ve offered to clean their homes so that their home, when they move back into it, is exactly like it was before the incident happened,” said Michael Lunsford, director of hazardous material for CSX.
Still, Bill and Lillian Sutherland said they’ll replace some things, such as bedding. The Sutherlands said their house has some buckled siding and smoke damage on the roof.
“It’s just a real nasty smell,” Bill Sutherland said.
Officials said there is no timetable for getting everyone back home permanently.
Since the derailment, some area residents who live near rail lines have said that they worry about a similar accident.
In western Louisville’s Rubbertown neighborhood, Lakeshia Brittle’s children saw television footage of the wreck and expressed worry about the trains at the Norfolk Southern yard that serve nearby chemical plants.
“If that would have happened next to us, we’d be blown up for sure,” said Brittle, who lives on Algonquin Parkway.
Sylvester Lunsford of Crescent Hill said the Bullitt derailment brought home the potential danger of the 90-ton cars that bring chlorine to the Louisville Water Co.’s treatment facilities.
“If that would have happened here, God forbid, it would have wiped out Crescent Hill,” said Lunsford, who has lived on Pennsylvania Avenue next to tracks for 27 years.
Jeremy Nance of New Albany, Ind., said he worries about hazardous materials on trains that pass as close as 40 feet to his house on a CSX line.
“I wish we could get something done to reroute this train (track) out of town,” said Nance, who lives at 15th and Beeler streets.
The Association of American Railroads says on its Web site that rerouting tracks only “increases risk by lengthening the route distances and transit times.”
Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said the company is “operating as safely as possible” at its Rubbertown rail yard, patrolling it regularly and following federal safety regulations.
“We are conscious of the neighbors’ concerns there and we make every effort to reduce the amount of time that tank cars are placed in that area,” he said.
Similar efforts at Norfolk Southern’s 30-track switching station in Portland reassure longtime resident Herb Brodarick.
“I feel safe, at least when it comes to the trains,” he said.
The Louisville Water Co. says CSX has greatly improved tracks leading to its Crescent Hill plant, but it is seeking a safer alternative to bringing chlorine by rail.
The water company is planning a $12 million facility to produce a diluted chlorine bleach solution, which would replace the pure chlorine as a disinfectant. It’s expected to be built by summer 2009, spokeswoman Barbara Crow said.
Jefferson County Public Schools has extensive plans for rail and other emergencies, said Chuck Fleischer, director of safety and environmental services. Several schools are near industrial sites. Kennedy Montessori Elementary School, for example, sits close to the Norfolk Southern rail yard.
“I feel we’re prepared,” Fleischer said.
If a chemical leak occurred near a school, that school would be instructed first to shelter the children indoors and seal all windows, doors and air-intake vents, he said.
Many residents have found that they, too, have to monitor the safety of trains near their homes.
Chad Welsh, a research scientist at the University of Louisville, said he didn’t give much thought to the CSX tracks 30 yards away when he bought a home three years ago near Anchorage.
Since then, he has taken note of news accounts across the country whenever there is a derailment.
A microbiologist, he understands what some of the chemicals carried by the tanker cars can do. “I read what they are and say, ‘Oh, man, that’s bad. That’s really bad,’ “ he said.
Mary L. Perry, who owns the Pet School and Hotel in Berrytown, said she hardly notices the trains that pass.
“This place has been here 20 years and nothing’s happened yet,” she said.