Daily danger travels Indiana railways
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Department of Homeland Security told I-Team 8 that trains carrying hazardous materials are going through the state on a daily basis.
“If a train comes through your community, you can almost bet that some of those cars do have hazardous materials,” said Indiana Fire Marshal Steve Jones.
The state is not always notified when and where the trains will be. “We don’t get a specific notification ‘Today is when it happens,’” Jones said.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says train companies only have to notify the state if the train is deemed a high hazard flammable train. Those are trains with 20 or more loaded tank cars of a Class 3 flammable liquid in one continuous string of cars, or 35 or more loaded tank cars of Class 3 liquid throughout the whole train.
About a dozen of those trains travel through Indiana every week.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security told I-Team 8 that the derailed train in New Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 was not a high hazard flammable train, so Norfolk Southern had no federal duty to reporting it.
Jones told told I-Team 8 that hazardous-material crews are always prepared to handle a derailment. If one happens, one of the first things they have to take into consideration is what is around the derailment. “Are there residential neighborhoods? Are there apartment buildings? Are their nursing homes, hospitals, in the area that could be affected?”
The game plan for emergency crews to minimizing harm to the surrounding area could change moment to moment depending on the specific chemical that was part of the derailment. They may choose to put it out, let it burn, let the container leak out, or any number of tactics to handle the situation in the safest way possible.
The Indiana Fire marshal says everyone living near rail lines needs to be thinking about this as a possibility. “A level of education keeps the fear away if you know what to do, what your plans need to be. Where the fear kicks in is whenever you’ve never thought about it before and now it’s happening,” Jones said.
He suggests making a plan with family members about what you’ll do if a train with hazardous materials derails nearby and emergency crews tell you to evacuate. “What types of things you need take with you? Medications and clothes, those types of things to already have that plan of what you need to grab as you head out the door,” Jones said.
The state fire marshal added that trains are still one of the safest ways to transport hazardous materials in the United States.