IL Crews Tackle Fiery Train Derailment

Sept. 10, 2019
Firefighters evacuated schools and some residents in Dupo after a railroad tank car containing a flammable liquid caught fire following a derailment Tuesday.

Fire erupted in a train derailment Tuesday afternoon in Dupo, where schools and some residents were evacuated but no injuries were reported.

Initial information indicates that a tank car containing a flammable liquid called “methyl isobutyl ketone” was involved in the fire, according to Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South.

“It is typically used as a solvent,” South said in an email.

“The train was being built for departure at the time of the derailment, which caused a tank car to catch fire,” South said.

A KMOV-Channel 4 video shows that over 10 train cars were derailed and flames were shooting from the wreckage.

Dupo Mayor Jerry Wilson said students from Dupo High School and a grade school were evacuated to Columbia as a precautionary measure.

Herb Simmons, director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, said in Facebook post at about 3 p.m. that residents in the Flora Acres area should evacuate their homes. Previously, he said residents in the Adams neighborhood and the Stony Brook mobile home park have been asked to leave their homes as a precautionary measure until firefighters say it is OK to return.

“But right now, stay out of the area, let the first responders do their job,” Simmons said.

The derailment occurred about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday in Union Pacific’s Dupo Yard near Carondelet Avenue between Main and Adams Road, South said.

Big, black plumes of smoke could be seen for miles around the fire but by 3 p.m. the cloud of smoke had dissipated.

Residents react

Lorene Lord, who lives across the street from the derailment, said she heard a noise like trains bumping together and then she heard sirens.

“I was afraid because there is a chemical plant right there and I didn’t know what was happening,” Lord said.

Lord said she watched the smoke from the fire for about an hour but then she was asked to leave her home.

Tina Sheldon of Dupo was working at a nearby Huck’s convenience store then the fire broke out.

“I saw a big, black cloud of smoke and when I stepped outside it smelled yeasty, like someone was baking bread,” Sheldon said.

Sheldon said her brother works at the Dupo rail yard and he told her that it “felt like an earthquake” when the fire started.

“Ameren will be cutting power to the East Carondelet community soon. This is due to high tension lines over the fire,” the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency said in a Facebook post at about 1:45 p.m.

Federal investigation

Federal Railroad Administration personnel and hazmat responders are en route to the scene and the agency will investigate the derailment, according to a statement from the agency.

Return to bnd.com for updates.

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©2019 the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.)

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