On the night of July 1, 2015 in the east Tennessee town of Maryville (Blount County) a CSX train carrying a toxic/flammable material, derailed and caught fire which resulted in the evacuation of many residents within a two mile radius of the accident scene. The train was traveling from Cincinnati, Ohio to Waycross, Georgia when it derailed. Around 5,000 residents were evacuated including nearby businesses. The ruptured tanker car was carrying 24,000 gallons of acrylonitrile which is a colorless, hazardous and volatile liquid. Acrylonitrile has numerous industrial uses including the manufacturing of plastics and is very dangerous when inhaled. Of the 57 total train cars, 16 were empty and 9 were carrying acrylonitrile. Exposure to acrylonitrile
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Did firefighters make the right decisions when responding per emergency response guidelines? And as stated earlier, there were other cars that contained acrylonitrile but no transfer operation was conducted. Before I investigate the emergency response procedures, It seems all responders acted accordingly to what is required. So let’s take a closer look at what the emergency guidelines require in a situation like this. According to the Emergency Response Guidebook the potential hazards listed for acrylonitrile are; irritation, burning of the skin, corrosive and toxic gases, dizziness, headaches, and potential water pollution from run off. First responders did account for all these hazards during mitigation. The immediate area was evacuated and nearby roads were closed to prevent exposure. Fire hazards listed by the guidebook are as follows; highly flammable, vapor explosion, containers may explode when heated. This was accounted for also when firefighters cooled the nearby rail cars to prevent them from exploding. So what does the guidebook say about fire suppression when dealing with …show more content…
The one area first responders far exceeded the emergency guideline requirements was during the evacuation procedure. The guidebook calls for an isolation of at least 800 meters (1/2mile) in all directions (Emergency Response GuideBook, 2012). The evacuation radius at Maryville was 2 miles. So in regard to mitigation, I cannot find any violations made by the first responders at the Maryville, Tennessee train derailment. As I stated before in my report, the investigation is still ongoing but because there were reports of a broken axle found on one of the rail cars, there could possibly be some maintenance violations. But until the investigation process is complete, one can only speculate. As far as prevention, I do not know how this accident could have been prevented. The reason I say this, is because when rail cars are involved in an accident, it is very difficult to determine the cause of a derailment. Sometimes the cause is pretty obvious but in many situations it is not. If there is one recommendation I could make, I would recommend that the DOT and railroad industry really focus on rail car
Did firefighters make the right decisions when responding per emergency response guidelines? And as stated earlier, there were other cars that contained acrylonitrile but no transfer operation was conducted. Before I investigate the emergency response procedures, It seems all responders acted accordingly to what is required. So let’s take a closer look at what the emergency guidelines require in a situation like this. According to the Emergency Response Guidebook the potential hazards listed for acrylonitrile are; irritation, burning of the skin, corrosive and toxic gases, dizziness, headaches, and potential water pollution from run off. First responders did account for all these hazards during mitigation. The immediate area was evacuated and nearby roads were closed to prevent exposure. Fire hazards listed by the guidebook are as follows; highly flammable, vapor explosion, containers may explode when heated. This was accounted for also when firefighters cooled the nearby rail cars to prevent them from exploding. So what does the guidebook say about fire suppression when dealing with …show more content…
The one area first responders far exceeded the emergency guideline requirements was during the evacuation procedure. The guidebook calls for an isolation of at least 800 meters (1/2mile) in all directions (Emergency Response GuideBook, 2012). The evacuation radius at Maryville was 2 miles. So in regard to mitigation, I cannot find any violations made by the first responders at the Maryville, Tennessee train derailment. As I stated before in my report, the investigation is still ongoing but because there were reports of a broken axle found on one of the rail cars, there could possibly be some maintenance violations. But until the investigation process is complete, one can only speculate. As far as prevention, I do not know how this accident could have been prevented. The reason I say this, is because when rail cars are involved in an accident, it is very difficult to determine the cause of a derailment. Sometimes the cause is pretty obvious but in many situations it is not. If there is one recommendation I could make, I would recommend that the DOT and railroad industry really focus on rail car