Emergency Planning: Ask: Do You Know What Is Transported Through Your Back Yard?

IEM Blog: NJ Train Derailment Begs Us to Ask: Do You Know What Is Transported Through Your Back Yard?

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NJ Train Derailment Begs Us to Ask: Do You Know What Is Transported Through Your Back Yard? Posted: 03 Dec 2012 12:24 PM PST Last Friday’s freight train derailment in New Jersey in which several rail tank cars of vinyl chloride ended up in a creek off the Delaware River serves as a sobering reminder to emergency managers throughout the United States: do you know what is transported through your back yard? If so, do you have a plan for responding? Fortunately, only one rail car of vinyl chloride was ruptured, a tribute to the strength of rail tank cars. At 353,000 lbs fully loaded, a rail tank car is difficult to move, even with the right equipment. However, an incident involving vinyl chloride (VCM), a highly flammable toxic inhalation hazard, contains multiple hazards that are worth reviewing. This incident should serve as a learning experience for emergency managers and first responders. First, in an incident involving a chemical like VCM, it is important to step back and assess the situation before immediately putting water on the problem. While VCM is highly flammable, the water spray reportedly used in the initial response may have actually exacerbated the release because adding water in this case would have increased the formation of gas. The recommended media is alcohol resistant firefighting foam (AR-AFFF).  The foam knocks down the flammable and toxic gas and slows down the vaporization. Second, aging infrastructure is clearly a factor in this incident. There are 18 railroad systems in New Jersey operating over 983 miles of track. While freight rail operators are constantly improving their systems, they cannot always keep up with the maintenance of tracks, trestles and bridges. This bridge was constructed in 1874. Like many railroad bridges in this country, they need attention. Finally, environmental concerns in this event are not significant as VCM is not a persistent material in the environment and it does not bio-accumulate.  VCM has an environmental half-life of 23 hours in soil and water.  In air it rapidly degrades with sunlight and disperses into the atmosphere. This incident underscores the importance of knowing what’s going through your back yard, preplanning so you know how to deal with such incidents, the ability to make good assessments and developing mitigation and response plans. Hazmat incidents must be supported by well trained and prepared responders.

Raw Video of New Jersey Train Derailment Carrying Vinyl Chloride Posted: 03 Dec 2012 08:44 AM PST Author: IEM On Friday, November 30th a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed while crossing a bridge in Paulsboro, NJ, a town south of Philadelphia. Four tanker trucks overturned into the creak creating a hole in rail car containing vinyl chloride. Here is raw footage of the wreckage. NJ Train Derailment Tips Tankers (Associated Press, Nov 30) Train Derailment in New Jersey Spills Hazardous Waste (ABC news, Nov 30) National Transportation Safety Board Official Information: NTSB Launches Go-Team to Investigate a Freight Train Derailment and Hazardous Materials Release in New Jersey (Article contains links to NTSB press briefings) IEM’s hazmat and transportation experts are conducting an independent analysis of the spill that will be available later today. See more information on IEM’s transportation expertise and hazmat modeling and simulation capabilities.