(KNSI) — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Authorities are reassuring residents that the air and water are safe after a 22 car train derailment Thursday morning.
The cars, carrying mixed freight of ethanol and liquid corn syrup, went off the tracks and caught fire around 1:00. At least ten of them were punctured.
Top officials from BNSF traveled to the scene from Fort Worth, Texas, as soon as they got word, according to the railroad’s vice president of operations, Matt Garland.
“We wanted to make sure that we were in front of the entire team and in front of the entire community talking about this event, and more importantly, talking about a response. So first off, let me say thank you, and our sincerest apologies for displacing you last night from your homes. Safety of the community is our utmost priority. And as we thought through in consultation with not only the local sheriff, but the various community agencies that we consulted with, and then wanted to get our expert firefighters and hazmat responders out here to make sure we took a look at it to make sure it was safe. We have deemed it safe.”
Company President and CEO Katie Farmer says the company accepts full accountability for the derailment and echoed Garland’s commitment to safety. “We work very hard at the prevention of these types of incidents at BNSF. We work on mitigation, these were the safest tank cars, 117 J cars. And then we work very hard on response, you will continue to see that throughout the remediation of this effort.”
She says members of the National Transportation Safety Board are traveling to the scene and are expected to arrive later Thursday, but they will not wait for them to arrive before cleanup starts. “We are working with NTSB to be able to get their go ahead to be able to move into the site and begin to clean up and remediate, and to put out the fires.”
According to Governor Tim Walz, the fires can’t be put out with water. They need to be put out with special foam, but the foam they use does not contain the forever chemicals, and the site will be under heavy monitoring. “The good news probably is with the relatively frozen ground that the ethanol will burn off. Of course, the state will monitor and this is where our folks from Pollution Control Agency making sure there’s no runoff in your water.”
After the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio February 3rd, there have been several more. Farmer says we maybe hear more about derailments, but it doesn’t mean that transporting chemicals and other materials by rail isn’t safe. “99.99% of all hazardous commodities get moved to destination without incident. So whether or not you’re hearing more about them, I wouldn’t really necessarily weigh in. I can tell you what the statistics are and that is 99.99% of all hazardous commodities get to destination without incident. So we are very safe.”
The railroad’s claims team is on site helping residents with any personal losses or expenses connected to the derailment.
The main track is closed, and there is no official word on when it will reopen.
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