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Evacuations Reported In Train Derailment
Officials Determine Situation Hazmat Level Three

POSTED: 10:56 am EDT October 25, 2004
UPDATED: 11:46 am EDT October 25, 2004

DETROIT -- Explosive contents in a train derailment have created a Hazmat Level Three situation in a Detroit neighborhood Monday morning. Evacuations include three elementary schools.

Eight train cars overturned just before 11 a.m. in a neighborhood in the area of Nevada and the Interstate 75 service drive, Local 4 reported. Senior Chief Roy Miller of the Detroit Fire Department said four of the cars contain methyl alcohol, but said there are no reports of a leak.

Methyl alcohol is highly explosive and is used as a jet fuel, according to Miller.

Police said homes are being evacuated in a two-mile radius from the scene. Officers are reportedly going door to door to alert residents and combing the streets.

Detroit Public School officials have announced they are evacuating Greenfield Union Elementary School on Seven Mile Road, Greenfield Park Elementary School on Brush Street and Grayling Elementary School on West Adeline, according to Local 4. Parents were reportedly being called by the schools to pick up their children and sign them out.

Children who were not picked up by their parents were being taken to a safe location by school bus. Detroit Public School representative Mattie Majors said Greenfield Park Elementary students were being taken to Pershing High School on Ryan Road. She said she would later release the locations of the other schools.

"The safety of the kids is the most important," said Majors.

Miller said emergency crews remain at the scene and will keep water on the tanks in an effort to prevent an explosion.

"Right now what we are trying to do is secure the situation," said Canadian Rail representative Gloria Combe. "We are very concerned with the safety of the people in the community."

Combe said she would go to the scene to assess the situation and confirm the possibility of a leak. She said the scene will be treated as a worst-case scenario to ensure the community is safe.

Combe did not have details on the train's route.

The cause of the derailment was not known.

Stay with Local 4 News and ClickOnDetroit.com for the latest developments.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3847160/detail.html