State of emergency continues in East Palestine, Ohio after train derailment

East Palestine, Ohio, remained in a state of emergency after a train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night, covering the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below. About 50 cars derailed in East Palestine as a train was carrying a variety of freight from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, rail operator Norfolk Southern said in a statement Saturday. There was no immediate information about what caused the derailment. No injuries were reported. The derailment happened a little before 9 p.m. Friday in the small town in Ohio which is not far from the Pennsylvania border in Beaver County.No injuries or fatalities were reported."We are aware of the derailment in East Palestine, and are coordinating closely with local first responders while mobilizing our own teams. We will share more details as they become available," Norfolk Southern said in a statement. An investigation is ongoing as to the nature of the derailment and which rail cars have been compromised.Mayor Trent Conaway on Sunday said the site remains volatile but that air quality in the village was still good. Conaway however urged people to stay away from the site. Norfolk Southern said the train was carrying more than 100 cars, 20 of which were classified as carrying hazardous materials, defined as cargo that could pose any kind of danger "including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks.” Conaway told reporters 68 entities from three states in multiple counties providing mutual aid and automatic aid. The derailment happened about 51 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team to Ohio in response. “The post-derailment fire spanned about the length of the derailed train cars,” Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Saturday evening. “The fire has since reduced in intensity, but remains active and the two main tracks are still blocked.”Graham said 14 cars carrying vinyl chloride were involved in the derailment “and have been exposed to fire,” and at least one “is intermittently releasing the contents of the car through a pressure release device as designed.”“At this time we are working to verify which hazardous materials cars, if any, have been breached,” he said. The Environmental Protection Agency and Norfolk Southern were continuing to monitor air quality, and investigators would begin their on-scene work “once the scene is safe and secure,” he said.Vinyl chloride, used to make the polyvinyl chloride hard plastic resin used in a variety of plastic products, is associated with increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute. Federal officials said they were also concerned about other possibly hazardous materials.Fire Chief Keith Drabick said officials were most concerned about the vinyl chloride and referenced one car containing that chemical but said safety features on that car were still functioning. Emergency crews would keep their distance until Norfolk Southern officials told them it was safe to approach, Drabick said.“When they say it’s time to go in and put the fire out, my guys will go in and put the fire out,” he said. He said there were also other chemicals in the cars and officials would seek a list from Norfolk Southern and federal authorities.Norfolk Southern said Sunday cars involved in the derailment contained vinyl chloride, combustible liquids, butyl acrylate, benzene residue cars (rail cars that previously contained benzene), and nonhazardous materials such as wheat, plastic pellets, malt liquors, and lube oil. Some of the substances associated with the derailment may have spilled into Sulphur Run. Water sampling is being conducted to determine the nature and extent of any impact to Sulphur Run and areas downstream of Sulphur Run.None of the waterways in East Palestine have a surface water intake that is used for potable water.Graham said the safety board’s team would concentrate on gathering “perishable” information about the derailment of the train, which had 141 load cars, nine empty cars and three locomotives. State police had aerial footage and the locomotives had forward-facing image recorders as well as data recorders that could provide such information as train speed, throttle position and brake applications, he said. Train crew and other witnesses would also be interviewed, Graham said.Firefighters were pulled from the immediate area and unmanned streams were used to protect some areas including businesses that might also have contained materials of concern, officials said. Freezing temperatures in the single digits complicated the response as trucks pumping water froze, Conaway said.The evacuation area covered 1,500 to 2,000 of the town's 4,800 to 4,900 residents, but it was unknown how many were actually affected, Conaway said. Norfolk Southern opened an assistance center in the village to take information from affected residents and also said it was "supporting the efforts of the American Red Cross and their temporary community shelters through a $25,000 donation."Pittsburgh's Action News 4 spoke with a railroad safety expert about what the people of East Palestine can expect in the days ahead. "It could be days before they clean it up and people are allowed back to their homes," Michael Callanan said. "And then you have the process of re-railing the cars and removing the cars that are damaged."The Associated Press contributed to this report.