Derailed train's fire out, but residents still displaced
MARYVILLE, Tenn. --After a train car filled with a toxic chemical derailed and caught fire, thousands of people in east Tennessee early Thursday are waiting to find out when they can go home. They were evacuated more than 24 hours ago.
Maryville is home to around 30,000 people, and 5,000 of its residents were displaced because of the dangerous smoke that poured out of the burning train car for hours, reports CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca. Officials say the fire has been put out and is no longer smoking, but people are being kept away from their homes, and it's not just the air that's a concern.
Worn and weary, people who were rushed out of their homes in the middle of the night are hoping for more answers Friday.
CSX, the company that owns the train, is putting evacuees up in hotels, and providing gift cards for food and essentials. The Red Cross is also helping out.
"An outreach center has been set up here at the local high school to make sure we are answering those questions and continuing to assist them for as long as this takes place," said Craig Camuso, CSX regional vice president for state government affairs.
Manuel Toledo and his family were asleep when an emergency worker pounded on their front door.
"He just had this big thing on his face with this oxygen connected to it, so it was pretty scary. It freaked us out," Toledo said.
The CSX train, traveling from Cincinnati to Waycross, Georgia, derailed and then one of its 57 cars caught fire. The burning car was carrying liquid acrylonitrile, a hazardous chemical used to make plastics.
"We could smell an ammonia-type smell," a woman said.
"It was like an ammonia sulphur and you could see black smoke just rolling up," another man said.
The toxic fumes can cause headaches, dizziness and a rapid heartbeat. A Blount Memorial Hospital official told CBS News that as of late Thursday night, 86 people had come in for treatment and 28 were admitted, including 10 first responders.
The safety of the air is not the only concern. Samples of the surrounding soil and ground water are also being tested by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"It's not to say that the water is contaminated, we're just, out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending that folks do not drink it, do not come in contact with it until we get more data," EPA on-scene coordinator Kevin Eichinger said.
The Blount County 911 director said a reverse 911 call was made Thursday night ordering the evacuation, but only 61 percent of the people in the targeted area received the call.
The Federal Railroad Administration is on the scene to determine the cause of the derailment.