LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The blaze that authorities initially said would end in a couple of hours instead spewed flames and smoke from a derailed tanker car for a second day Thursday with no end in sight, as crews scrambled to prevent it from igniting railcars loaded with toxic chemicals nearby.
Hundreds of people have had to evacuate, including the entire town of West Point and some people from nearby Louisville. The burning butadiene, a chemical commonly found in rubber used to make tires, can damage the central nervous system and reproductive system. Workers were hosing down other railcars nearby filled with another corrosive chemical, hydrogen fluoride, which can cause severe respiratory damage.
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All the water used to keep those cars cool, however, raised fears that the water could become contaminated and wash into the confluence of the Salt and Ohio rivers. The Environmental Protection Agency was monitoring water quality and quickly erecting a dam to keep out contaminated water.
“This is as bad as it gets as far as a haz-mat incident, if it were to be released,” said Art Smith, an emergency coordinator with the EPA.
Three workers were hospitalized after the blaze ignited Wednesday, one of whom remained in critical condition. Another worker, a contracted consultant, was released Thursday, Paducah & Louisville Railway officials said. They had been using a cutting torch to separate two cars at the site of Monday’s derailment, after being told by air quality monitors that the air was clear and the torch safe to use, said Gerald Gupton with the Paducah & Louisville Railway.
On Thursday, workers were siphoning styrene — another toxic chemical used in rubber — from one stricken railcar. Otherwise, the main concern and biggest threat of danger was the cars filled with hydrogen fluoride that were within about 10 feet of the burning car. Gupton said those cars would be carefully moved so that the chemical can be removed.
Officials had expected the fire to burn itself out within a couple of hours, but it is now unclear exactly how long it would burn.
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