June 20, 2009 - 1 Dead in Illinois Train Derailment Explosion
Flames were still shooting Saturday from freight train tanker cars that derailed the night before at Rockford, Ill., killing one person, authorities said.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported five of the 12 ethanol tanker cars that had caught fire were still ablaze. Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson said he expected the ethanol to burn through much of the day.
"We're letting the product burn itself out," he said. "We can't get too close to it. We're observing everything through binoculars from about 200 or 300 feet away."
"The situation is not under control, but we are making progress in getting it under control. It's very dangerous. It's very explosive. We're not risking any firefighters' lives."
Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten said 74 of the train's 114 cars held the highly flammable liquid. A spokesoman for Canadian National Railway Co. said 18 cars, all carrying ethanol, derailed about 9 p.m. Friday,.
It wasn't known what caused the accident, though the railroad spokesman said officials were looking into reports that a track washout may have been to blame.
About 600 homes around the derailment was evacuated and power was knocked out to about 1,000 customers.
Winnebago County Coroner said the person killed was a female in a car at a cross waiting for the train to pass. Three other people in the car were seriously burned by flaming ethanol, she said.
Two crewmen on the train escaped injury and the crew pulled 64 cars away from the scene.
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