Evacuated families wait for smoke from rail spill to clear
Source: AP
By STEVE MEGARGEE and JOHNNY CLARK
MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Thousands of eastern Tennessee residents have been displaced after a CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire, forcing their evacuation.
Most received urgent knocks at their doors between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday by emergency workers who told them they should leave immediately.
About 5,000 people within a mile-and-a-half radius of the site were evacuated, along with several businesses. A manufacturing plant, Denso Manufacturing, closed down Thursday morning because of its proximity to the derailment, Blount County firefighter Kermit Easterling said.
The concern stemmed from the contents of the car that derailed: liquid acrylonitrile, which officials said is a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes including making plastics. It's flammable and it's dangerous if inhaled. The EPA says some effects of breathing acrylonitrile include headaches, dizziness, irritability and rapid heartbeat.
FULL story at link.
Smoke rises from a CSX train carrying flammable and toxic gas in Maryville, Tenn., Thursday, July 2, 2015. (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b5effe5d551145f380bcbe2b6f16a1f8/evacuated-families-wait-smoke-rail-spill-clear
