Officials say firefighters who responded to February’s fiery train derailment in Ohio struggled to immediately identify the hazardous chemicals the train was hauling due to a lack of communication from the railroad
February's fiery train derailment
East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said Thursday that there was a consensus in the command center that releasing and burning the chemicals was the “least bad option.” Drew McCarty with Specialized Profession Services said one of the tank cars “frankly scared the hell out of us” when it violently released vinyl chloride with a roar after hours of calm. McCarty said that, combined with his decades of experience, made him think the cars could explode.
The fire chiefs said the initial response to the derailment was complicated because the radios used by the different departments don't work with each other. It also took time for emergency responders to discover exactly what the train was carrying because the first firefighters on scene didn't have access to the AskRail app that railroads developed to provide that information.
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