Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990 TAG: 9004120837
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: FAGG LENGTH: Medium
About 100 gallons of lubricating oil also spilled from a locomotive. Twelve of the train's 142 coal cars toppled off the tracks, spilling coal into the yards of a few trailer homes.
None of the train's four-member crew was injured, and it was not necessary to evacuate nearby residents, officials at the scene said.
Fire and rescue workers from a dozen nearby communities worked all night skimming fuel from the water as it floated down the river's north fork at the foot of Hightop Mountain.
Officials with the state Water Control Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a local environmental cleanup company were at the scene this morning assessing the spill's effect on local water supplies.
Norfolk Southern Corp. spokesman Don Piedmont said the spill presented no danger to drinking water in the area. "We are confident that the bulk of the spill has been contained," he said.
Elliston Fire Chief Pug Wells said there were a few nearby wells but that they were far enough away from the river that they should not be affected.
Salem, which is the only locality to take water from the river, aside from a few farms and industries, had not shut down its intake pumps this morning. A spokesman said the fuel had not reached their intakes and they were waiting to see how far downstream it would float. Roanoke does not take water from the Roanoke River.
Crews arrived less than 20 minutes after the 10:42 p.m. wreck was reported. By the time they arrived, most of the fuel from the engine's 3,900-gallon tank already had spilled into the river, which flows beside Virginia 603.
A dozen firefighters, including Patrick Callahan of Elliston, shoveled dirt into piles around the train to contain the remaining fuel and keep it from reaching the river.
"[Fuel] was running through a ditch into a creek and down into the river," said Callahan, his yellow fire suit caked with mud. "We just kept shoveling dirt in front of it. It was a lot of shoveling, a lot of work."
After the spill was contained, crews rushed about six miles downstream to string giant cotton-like sponges or "booms" across the river to skim the fuel. With floodlights glaring, firefighers splashed through 2 feet of water to pound in fence posts, string chicken wire across the river's 50-foot width and scatter bales of hay to soak up fuel that the booms may have missed. Other workers threw large towels into the water to absorb fuel.
The wreck turned this small Montgomery County community between Elliston and Christiansburg into a circus until the early morning hours.
The scene along Virginia 603 was ablaze with red, white and blue lights. Mingling amid dozens of fire trucks and rescue vehicles were more than 75 rescue workers from departments in Elliston, Shawsville, Montgomery County, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton.
Traffic was stopped only once or twice. Dozens of nearby residents stood on their porches or gathered in the streets to watch. The air was thick with the smell of diesel fuel.
"I guess it was pretty lucky nobody got hurt," said Randy Short of the Elliston Volunteer Rescue Squad as he chewed on a sandwich about 1:30 a.m. "As long as nobody lights a match, we're all right."
NS spokesman Piedmont said the conductor, engineer and two brakemen on the train were all in the front engine headed east. They were not tested for drugs because there were no rule violations and no injuries.
Other trains were being routed to other tracks.
Piedmont said the train was headed east from the Pocahontas coalfields in either West Virginia or Kentucky on its way to Norfolk.
Elliston Fire Chief Wells said the train had been traveling at about 20 mph. It appeared the rock slide had covered the tracks and the train was not able to stop in time, he said.
NS construction crews were expected to put the cars back on the tracks today.
A hazardous materials expert for NS security officers, who asked not to be named, said he expected much of the fuel to evaporate when the sun hit it today. He said the lubricating oil that spilled from one of the engines would need to be cleaned by an environmental cleanup company.
"Probably some of the soil will have to be taken up," he said.
by CNB