(AP) — Rail cars containing thousands of gallons of ethanol exploded when a Canadian National Railway freight train derailed on Friday night, killing one person and resulting in the evacuation of hundreds of nearby homes.
Five tank cars were still burning on Saturday morning, and officials said they would wait for the “very dangerous” inferno to burn out by itself.
Chief Derek Bergsten of the Rockford Fire Department said 74 of the train’s 114 cars were filled with ethanol.
At the height of the fire on Friday night, 14 cars were ablaze, said Patrick Waldron, a Canadian National spokesman.
Eighteen cars, all containing ethanol, left the tracks about 9 p.m. Friday, Mr. Waldron said. The cause of the derailment had not been determined.
Officials evacuated an area on the edge of Rockford, which is about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.
The Winnebago County coroner, Sue Fiduccia, said on Saturday that the person who was killed was a woman who had been waiting in a car for the train to pass through a crossing.
Chief Bergsten said that three people ran from the car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and that they were severely burned by flaming ethanol. They were hospitalized in serious to critical condition, he said.
The derailment was being investigated by Canadian National and the Federal Railroad Administration.
Members of the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the scene early Saturday.
Five tank cars were still burning on Saturday morning, and officials said they would wait for the “very dangerous” inferno to burn out by itself.
Chief Derek Bergsten of the Rockford Fire Department said 74 of the train’s 114 cars were filled with ethanol.
At the height of the fire on Friday night, 14 cars were ablaze, said Patrick Waldron, a Canadian National spokesman.
Eighteen cars, all containing ethanol, left the tracks about 9 p.m. Friday, Mr. Waldron said. The cause of the derailment had not been determined.
Officials evacuated an area on the edge of Rockford, which is about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.
The Winnebago County coroner, Sue Fiduccia, said on Saturday that the person who was killed was a woman who had been waiting in a car for the train to pass through a crossing.
Chief Bergsten said that three people ran from the car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and that they were severely burned by flaming ethanol. They were hospitalized in serious to critical condition, he said.
The derailment was being investigated by Canadian National and the Federal Railroad Administration.
Members of the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the scene early Saturday.
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