First responders worry about a derailment in downtown Pittsburgh similar to East Palestine
A derailment in downtown Pittsburgh similar to the incident in East Palestine, Ohio, could be devastating, according to area fire officials.
In a speech two years ago, Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones recalled then-Mayor Bill Peduto waking him up in the middle of the night after reading about trains loaded with crude oil going through downtown.
"He says, 'Chief, I just read about these bomb trains going through the city. I can't sleep. What are we going to do about these things?' Well, Mr. Mayor, I've been worrying about these things for years before you took office," Jones said.
Jones said his biggest concern is the trainloads of crude oil heading for East Coast refineries from western oil fields. Nearly 50 percent of all that oil passes through downtown Pittsburgh.
"When the oil prices were high, we had approximately 10 thousand cars a week of Bakken crude oil coming through town," Jones said.
The Pittsburgh area has seen eight major derailments in the past five years, including one on the South Side that shut down the rail line for days.
Fortunately, none of them resulted in a massive evacuation like the Ohio derailment.
But fire officials said it could happen here.
"The reality is, you can never be totally prepared for this. You just have to try to plan for the worst and hope for the best," said Swissvale Fire Chief Clyde Wilhelm.
Glenn Olcerst of the advocacy group Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh said the one-mile blast radius used in Ohio could cover more than 170,000 workers and residents if applied to downtown Pittsburgh.
"You've got all of Pittsburgh's most critical infrastructure in the blast zone in that one-mile blast. You've got all of our hospitals, you've got our museums which hold national treasures. You've got our energy facilities, our electronic switching and telephone facilities. You've got the stadiums and the convention center," Olcerst said.
A government report said the train that derailed in East Palestine was headed for the Conway rail yard in Beaver County. The report did not say if that was the final destination.
