Residents evacuated after derailment, fire

Ohio EPA was monitoring air and local streams.

PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Some 30 cars from a CSX train derailed in Painesville in Northeast Ohio on Wednesday, setting off a large, smoky fire and spurring evacuation of a half-mile radius, authorities said.

The biggest concern was a tank car of flammable liquefied petroleum gas, officials said. Firefighters were keeping water on that car to keep it cool, said Ken Gauntner, Lake County administrator.

Authorities evacuated an area including nearby business sites and residences where more than 1,000 people live. There were no injuries reported.

A CSX spokesman said about 30 cars in the 112-car mixed freight train had derailed. He said eight cars carried potentially hazardous materials, but not toxic inhalants. Most of the material was ethanol, but one tank car carried liquefied petroleum gas, he said.

“They’re monitoring that very closely,” said Garrick Francis, a spokesman for Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX Corp.

Authorities were letting the fire burn itself out while making sure it didn’t reach the car carrying LPG, officials said.

Federal and state emergency environmental response teams were at the scene.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Mike Settles said air monitors had been set up and authorities were also monitoring local streams for environmental impacts.

“We have immediate concerns with the ongoing blazes and concerns about what type of environmental damage this does,” Settles said.

A senior center, a high school and a YMCA were being used to house evacuees.

The agency was called about 12:45 p.m. by the Lake County Health Department, Settles said.

A motorist who was driving on State Route 44 near the crash about noon said he heard an explosion and saw a white flash out of the corner of his eye.

“I looked and an oil tanker exploded. Flames shot 50, 60 feet in the air. Other cars were thrown off the tracks and dumped grain that started burning,” Michael Wright told The Plain Dealer by phone.

The tracks are about 300 yards from a road, so firefighters were having trouble reaching the fire, he said.

Rail tracks near those where the derailment occurred were still operating Wednesday afternoon, and trains were passing through the smoke and flames.

Francis said the two-locomotive train was headed from Collingwood to Buffalo, N.Y.