School Evacuated After Train Derails No Spills Or Injuries But Two Tank Cars Of Acid Prompt Precautions
Two tank cars full of sulfuric acid were among 14 rail cars that derailed Tuesday morning 1-1/4 miles south of this Stevens County town, but none of the acid spilled and no one was injured.
About 150 elementary and middle school children were evacuated from the Valley School as a precaution. But officials later determined that the children - more than a mile from the crash site - were never in danger.
The 8:26 a.m. accident blocked state Highway 231 with a tumbled pile of Burlington Northern & Santa Fe freight cars. It also ignited a small grass fire that local volunteer firefighters quickly extinguished.
Kelly Duryea, the railroad company’s Spokane division superintendent, said investigators hadn’t determined what caused the 90-car, southbound freight train to derail. He said investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board had been summoned to examine wreckage.
Duryea estimated it would take 24 hours to restore service on the rail line. Even if all the acid had spilled, people at the school and elsewhere in the town probably could have smelled the airborne fumes but would not have faced any health hazard, said Jim Chulos, a hazardous materials coordinator from the state Department of Ecology.
The primary threat would have been to ground water and to workers clearing the wreckage, Chulos said.
Other potentially hazardous materials included two derailed tank cars full of once-molten sulfur and a tank car of dry nitrogen. The nitrogen car didn’t derail, and the sulfur was cool and solid.
The sulfur and sulfuric acid were being shipped to Spokane from the Cominco Ltd. metals plant at Trail, British Columbia. Officials said the materials could be used to manufacture fertilizer or other industrial products.
Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer said he requested the school evacuation at about 9 a.m., but simply warned nearby residents and allowed them to decide whether to leave.
Most didn’t leave and a couple of residents nearest the wreck said they didn’t get the warning.
Despite the fact that his home is possibly the closest to the derailment site, William Agee said he didn’t hear the crash and didn’t know about it until about 11 a.m. when a friend called.
Neighbor Diane Balholm did hear the crash.
“I was hoping it was just the cars banging together like they do when they put on the brakes, but this was much louder,” she said.
The flood of railway workers, police and other officials kept Ben’s Place cafe in Valley busy. Waitresses scurried from one packed table to another.
Even owner Ben Smith, a logger who opened the cafe as a sideline, was pressed into service when he stopped by at lunch time.
“I just happened to walk in on all this,” said Smith, who grabbed a coffee pot and started pouring refills.
The silver lining for Valley School students may soon tarnish. Superintendent-Principal Gerald Ely said the students will have to make up the day.
Map of derailment area