Cindy Bradley had just finished cooking for Thanksgiving when an official knocking loudly urged her to leave her small Kentucky home as soon as possible because a train had derailed, catching fire and spilling chemicals.
She ended up at Rockcastle County Middle School in Livingston — unsure what was next.
“I just cooked everything. It's like 'oh we're having thanksgiving tomorrow.' Guess we're not,” Bradley told NBC affiliate WLEX-TV Wednesday night, surrounded by dozens of cots. "Our homes are empty, people are scared there's elderly people with oxygen, people needed medicine if they didn't bring it. It's just a scary situation all the way around."
The CSX train derailed around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday near Livingston, a remote town with about 200 people in Rockcastle County.
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Two of the 16 cars that derailed carried molten sulfur, which caught fire after the cars were breached, CSX said in a statement. Crews were still working to extinguish the fire Thursday morning, the company said. WLEX-TV reported that one crew member was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
When molten sulfur burns, it's known to release sulfur dioxide, which is a toxic gas. It is unclear how much of the toxic gas is being released and officials have not released results of measurements taken from air monitoring equipment that was being deployed Wednesday night.
On Thursday afternoon, CSX spokesperson Bryan Tucker said in a brief email that “the fire is completely out.”
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John Mura, a spokesman for the state Energy and Environment Cabinet, said he didn't have further information on the quantity of chemicals released.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, sulfur dioxide can cause respiratory problems, depending on the concentration and length of exposure. The gas is commonly produced by burning fossil fuels at power plants and other industrial processes, the EPA says.
Evelyn Gray noticed a problem when her back door was opened by someone telling her to evacuate.
“As soon as he opened the back door to come in the chemical hit me, and I had a real bad asthma attack,” Gray told the TV station.
Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency in the county, assuring crews all the help from the state they need. He asked the public to keep in mind the emergency workers and people forced to spend Thanksgiving away from home.
“Please think about them and pray for a resolution that gets them back in their homes. Thank you to all the first responders spending this day protecting our people,” the governor said in a statement Thursday.
CSX promised to pay the costs of anyone asked to evacuate, including a Thanksgiving dinner.
