Crews release toxic chemicals from derailed tankers in Ohio

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Crews released toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding Monday and began burning it after warning residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.

Flames and black smoke billowed high into the sky from the derailment site late in the afternoon, about an hour after authorities said the controlled release would begin.

The slow release of vinyl chloride from five rail cars into a trough that was then ignited created a large plume above the village of East Palestine but authorities said they were closely monitoring the air quality.

“Thus far, no concerning readings have been detected,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a brief evening news conference about three hours after the venting and burning procedure began.

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-updates-bf5a60de2243cd6f7f730096aa33294c

[They_Live]

1. I guess all the toxins will just disappear

in the billowing black smoke.

oh, wait.

[4dog]

2. The Cl in the PVC will mostly end up as aqueous hydrochloric acid.

I recall a fire involving PVC in s garage/shop. Afterward all the steel rusted.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. You Recall Correctly

In your garage case, the fire would have created the high temperature needed to thermally decompose PVC.
That release HCl gas which reacts with atmospheric moisture to form tiny droplets of hydrochloric acid. That will definitely screw up your steeil.
In this rail case, however, the released VC will react with moisture in the air and polymerization to low molecular weight PVC.
That's probably why they're not detecting concerning levels of VC because a lot of it is reacting off.
Not that microscopic particles of plastic is a good thing.
So, there's probably not very much hydrochloric forming in this case.