Train Derailment in Ohio
East Palestine, Ohio-13th Feb 2023- Nearly a week after the huge chemical train derailment accident near East Palestine Ohio occurred, authorities conducted a controlled blast, to prevent a larger explosion from occurring.
Meanwhile the fire released huge amounts of hazardous and highly toxic gases into the surrounding atmosphere. These include really noxious stuff like Phosgene, Hydrogen Chloride and Butyl Acrylate.
Train Derailment accident
A train carrying 50 wagons (rail tankers) loaded with various toxic chemicals including Vinyl Chloride, derailed near the town of East Palestine in Ohio. Here’s a video from the National Transportation Safety Board, that is investigating the incident.
The train was being operated by Norfolk Southern, a company that is engaged in several businesses including rail transport.
Apparently there is a surveillance video from a nearby Industrial facility that shows that sparks and flames were coming out of the train wagon axles before the incident happened. It is not clear if this was one of the causes of the incident although preliminary findings seem to indicate that the sparks and hot axle conditions triggered an alarm, that caused the crew to apply emergency braking that probably derailed the train.
Here is a news report that references this and was also referred to during a press conference held by the NTSB.
Current Situation
Residents in the area say that the air smells like a mix of nail polish and burning tires. They were reportedly asked to wipe down surfaces with bleach and not touch any surfaces directly. When the accident occurred, they were evacuated but have now been asked to return.
There have been reports of dead foxes on a local farm nearby, as well as dead fish spotted floating on a lake.
Here’s a video of the massive fire that shows dark plumes of smoke arising from the accident site. This is from a tweet by Jason Robertson
The Train Derailment/Chemical spill in Ohio should be front page news.
It is devastating.
— Jason Robertson (@JRobFromMN) February 13, 2023
Vinyl Chloride Hazardous Properties
Vinyl Chloride is often called as VCM (Vinyl Chloride Monomer) or Chloroethane.
VCM is extremely flammable. At even low concentrations of about 3.6 percent VCM in air, VCM can be an explosion hazard. Direct contact with open flames or a high energy heat source will result in combustion and corrosive, noxious gases. On the other hand if VCM is exposed to air, it polymerizes. It is an extremely flammable material. Vapors are heavier than air and may spread along floors. A large amount of heat can be generated when VCM is exposed to a fire. On combustion it may give out Phosgene, Hydrogen Chloride gas and Carbon Monoxide, all of which are extremely toxic to humans and animals. In fact Phosgene was used as Chemical weapon during World War I.