A train derailment has caused a massive fire and explosion in East Palestine, OH, just NW of Pittsburgh, PA. Over 100 oil tanker cars carrying Chlorine gas crashed into a gas station. Anyone within a 1-mile radius is under mandatory evacuation.
Multiple emergency crews are responding and active at the scene.
The brief video below shows multiple angles of the disaster scene. WARNING: A cameraman or nearby person uses some extreme curse words in a small portion of this video!
Social media accounts from people living in the area, are lighting up with images and video of the disaster:
#train #derailment #eastpalestine Big train wreck and fire can see it from my place over a mile away! pic.twitter.com/MCsd407bBE
— Bent Tree Farms (@bent_tree_farms) February 4, 2023
The scalable/zoomable map below shows where this situation is, especially in relation to the large city of Pittsburgh, PA:
Police cars in East Palestine are announcing all residents should EVACUATE the area, as shown in the brief video below:
We are now being told the smoke plume is picked up on weather radar reaching all the way to Beaver, PA. Which is 20 miles away.
— Dan Mirgon (@bigmirg) February 4, 2023
#EastPalestine #Ohio police are going down the streets calling for people to evacuate on a loud speaker @KDKA #trainderailment #fire pic.twitter.com/BZUNABp1Li
— Lauren Linder (@lauren_linder) February 4, 2023
RADIO TRAFFIC
Monitoring railroad radio "talk group" traffic, Word is that some of the tank cars are carrying vinyl chloride. There are over 20 crews on scene, with more on the way. All of them are volunteer fire departments. They’re having difficulty finding water hookups and are pumping from nearby sources…most frozen over. They’re having difficulty getting the fires out. Engines were able to decouple and have rolled away from the scene. Another train going the opposite way and was stopped in time, about a mile or so from the derailment. That train has backed away.
Monitoring fire department radio frequencies reveals all Beaver County (Pennsylvania) fire units have been ordered to evacuate into Ohio, as the prevailing winds are pushing the flames towards them. The fire is out of control currently.
DRONE VIEW
The image below was taken by a private drone in the area:
Another Drone image:
Image taken from nearby overpass:
DRONE Video on social media:
#BREAKING: More aerial photos from #SkyEye2 of the massive fire still burning in East Palestine, Ohio near the PA border after a train derailment. @KDKA https://t.co/y8ZM8o5FQ7 pic.twitter.com/UQ5yKve7f1
— Ian Smith (@ismithKDKA) February 4, 2023
UPDATE 7:59 AM EST --
Now being told Norfolk Southern had a train derail and strike an oil storage tank and a building that uses vinyl chloride, very toxic.
