* Oy…
A freight train loaded with crude oil derailed in northern Illinois, bursting into flames and prompting officials to suggest that everyone with 1 mile evacuate, authorities said.
The BNSF Railway train derailed Thursday afternoon in a rural area where the Galena River meets the Mississippi, according to company spokesman Andy Williams. The train had 103 cars loaded with crude oil, along with two buffer cars loaded with sand. A cause for the derailment hadn’t yet been determined. No injuries were reported. […]
Firefighters could only access the derailment site by a bike path, said Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley. They attempted to fight a small fire at the scene but were unable to stop the flames.
Firefighters had to pull back for safety reasons and were allowing the fire to burn itself out, Conley said. In addition to Galena firefighters, emergency and hazardous material responders from Iowa and Wisconsin were at the scene.
* More…
The company says the train’s tank cars were a newer model known as the 1232. That model was designed during safety upgrades voluntarily adopted by the industry four years ago. The improvements were meant to prevent cars from rupturing in the event of derailments.
But 1232 standard cars involved in three other accidents have split open in the past year, leading some to call for tougher requirements.
* From the governor’s office…
Governor Rauner today activated the State Incident Response Center (SIRC) in Springfield to ensure state personnel and equipment are ready to be quickly deployed if needed to help local emergency responders deal with a crude oil train derailment and subsequent fire that occurred this afternoon near Galena in Jo Daviess County.
Governor Rauner also deployed staff from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to the scene.
“I activated the State Incident Response Center to ensure we’re ready to act quickly if any local responders need our assistance,” said Governor Rauner.
Representatives from several state agencies are reporting to the SIRC, including IEMA, IEPA, Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois National Guard, Illinois Department of Central Management Services, Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois Department of Human Services, Illinois Department on Aging, Illinois Department of Corrections, Office of the State Fire Marshal and the American Red Cross.
The SIRC will remain activated as long as necessary.
Updates from the governor’s office will be posted here.
* From the twitters…
*** UPDATE *** The governor has proposed some steep cuts to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which handles crises like this one. Among the proposed cuts are to local responder training (56.7 percent), recovery and remediation (83.9 percent), operations, (20.15 percent) and equipment (4.4 percent). Click here for the list.
