Posted on 01/06/2005 8:37:59 AM PST by Peach
Prayers continuing for all affected and involved.
prairie
Checking in for the morning. No new updates that I can report.
It is reported in our paper today that the air quality at the crash site is higher than the equipments ability to measure.
First responders to the scene rushed forward despite watching the paint peel from their firetrucks and police cars. Their wedding rings have turned black. It is expected that their health will be impacted for the rest of the lives.
I heard on Fox News awhile ago that the FBI has been called in to investigate this train wreck. Stay safe.
EPA has warned there could be a secondary release of chlorine gas as workers try to seal the leak. Law enforcement will begin at the outer rim of the evacuation area tonight to retrieve animals and pets. Some are surely dead but those that are alive will be taken to vet clinics for evaluation. Pets that are indoors will not be attended to at this time as the priority is those animals that are outside.
So far there are no signs of tampering but the FBI gets routinely called into cases like this, I think. There are so many initialed agencies here that the media have given up keeping track :-)
Saturday afternoon press conference:
A 9th person has died. He was discovered outside near the crash area and died of chlorine inhalation.
The evacuation and curfews will remain in effect until at least Wednesday. Some schools in the surrounding Graniteville area are going to remain closed until at least Tuesday but others within the county will open on Monday.
Law enforcement will begin animal retrieval this evening. They will begin at the outer rim of the evacuation area and will only attend to outdoor animals at this time. Some are surely dead but those that are alive will be taken to various vet clinics for evaluation.
The crash site remains a hot zone but work on sealing the leak has begun. EPA warns there could be a secondary release of chlorine gas.
I just saw the story about the 9th body discovered on foxnews website. Is it the cleanup process that may release a second leakage of the gas?
Although they haven't specifically stated what will perhaps cause a secondary release, I think it must be disturbing the site during the sealing of the leak.
The media hasn't asked THAT pertinent question, naturally. LOL
I guess we are supposed to use our powers of deduction to figure out what they are saying. It's too much to expect them to speak plainly and give easily understandable information.
I don't know if you read my update the other day about the air quality.
The EPA said that chlorine gas levels at 10 are extremely dangerous. They said that most areas they measured were 1.5+.
I thought that sounded weird. What does "+" mean?
Finally, some enterprising reporter asked and the EPA admitted that the gauge they had only went up as high as 1.5!!!
So they know it's over that. Now a newspaper article makes it sound like they got a new gauge that goes higher and it said that the reading went off the chart so they don't know how high it is.
yeesh....
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — State officials said Sunday afternoon they had put a temporary patch on a railroad car that had been leaking toxic chlorine gas as investigators looked for the cause of the crash that derailed the train.
The car was damaged when a Norfolk Southern train hit parked railroad cars early Thursday morning. The leaking gas has been blamed for nine deaths. Six of the dead were employees at a textile mill next to the tracks.
Thom Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, said workers will focus on transferring the gas to a safer container and removing all the damaged railcars.
About 16,000 gallons of another chemical sodium hydroxide has been safely removed from another railcar at the crash site, Berry said.
Residents were still told to remain away from their homes within a 1-mile radius of the crash and a 6 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew remained in effect for that area until at least Wednesday, Sheriff Michael Hunt said Sunday. Area schools will remain closed through Tuesday.
Hunt said police arrested two men who failed to abide by the curfew. Greg Gantt, 26, of Aiken and Kevin Tunstall, 39, of Brooklyn, N.Y., were charged with failure to obey a police officer.
On Saturday, investigators wearing protective suits and oxygen tanks discovered the body of a missing worker inside an Avondale Mills plant. Willie L. Tyler, 57, of Aiken became the ninth victim in one of the nation's deadliest chemical spills in recent years.
More than 250 people were sickened by the toxic vapors, which descended on neighboring homes in a greenish-yellow fog.
Besides Tyler, five other workers died at the mill. Hunt said Sunday that the all other Avondale workers had been accounted for.
Other victims were one man found dead in a truck near the plant, one man found dead in his home and the train engineer, who died at a hospital.
Mike Craig, 40 was among a handful of workers who managed to escape the low-hanging cloud of gas by going up on the plant's roof. Craig and the others stayed on the roof about two hours before realizing they had to get away from the plant.
"It was just terrible — everybody just had snot running out of their nose, eyes burning, nose and throat burning," said Craig, who was released from the hospital late Friday. "I could just feel myself slipping away."
They climbed from the roof on a fire escape, squeezed under a locked entrance and jumped into cars. "We all thought we were breathing our last" breath, Craig said.
State and federal environmental officials have continued conducting air quality tests, finding either low levels or nothing at all a couple blocks away from the site.
Aiken County Animal Control officers also began looking for residents' pets late Saturday. As of Sunday afternoon, just 17 animals had been recovered. The officers were looking for about 60 dogs, cats and other pets, the sheriff's office said.
The National Transportation Safety Board interviewed the three-man crew that had parked the cars on the side track Wednesday evening. Investigators said the switching mechanism wasn't turned back to direct oncoming trains down the primary rail.
"We know that the switch was lined and locked for the siding," said NTSB spokeswoman Debbie Hersman. "We won't conclude anything today and we won't speculate about the cause of the accident until we have gathered all the information."
Hersman said the FBI is fingerprinting the switching mechanism to determine who operated it. She said there was no sign of outside tampering with the mechanism.
The investigation also showed that the crew on the moving train must have discovered a problem and applied its brakes before hitting the parked train. Graniteville is located in a "no-signal territory," which means rail switches are controlled manually.
The area also does not have sensors to notify approaching trains of track changes or other possible dangers, Hersman said.
Part of the investigation will focus on the 96-hour work history of the crews involved in the crash.
"Regardless of what anybody's hours of service are, we always expect them to have a safe work site and to follow any rules that the company might have," Hersman said.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said the company expects its crews to switch back to the primary rail after putting a train on a side track.
Have you been out? Can you smell anything where you are? And has the kitty turned up?
Keep staying safe, OK?
Hi, there.
I didn't hear much news but we were out a lot today. The 10:00 news said that about 80 of the 5,400 evacuees were let back in their homes.
The leak is being plugged. We don't smell a thing. The attitude is more relaxed and they are getting a handle on it.
Investigators are quite sure it was human error that caused the crash.
The kitty was here when we got home this afternoon...waiting for her treats!
If it's crew error, NS may go broke. Which is a shame, because they are a good railroad.
My husband thinks this will ruin them as well.
Hey Peach, How is everything? Any updates? check in with us on the TM. We're concerned . . .
Train Crew Fired
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-brf-train-wreck-crew,0,5019167.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
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