Tank cars blow up in Illinois derailment, 1 killed

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Railroad tank cars holding thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol derailed and exploded in flames, killing a woman as she tried to run to safety from a car stopped at a crossing.

Three other people from the same car escaped with severe burns. Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes near the explosion.

Eighteen tank cars, all filled with ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, derailed Friday on the edge of Rockford, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.

Authorities said three of the cars were still burning Saturday afternoon although no smoke or flames were visible from about two blocks away. Cherry Valley Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Allen Geeser said firefighters were waiting for the fire to burn itself out.

Federal investigators arrived at the scene.

The cause of the derailment had not been determined. Reports that it was caused by a washout of the tracks following heavy rain were “not a certainty and this remains under investigation,” said Canadian National Railway Company spokesman Patrick Waldron.

The woman who was killed had escaped from the stopped automobile, but she managed to get only 20 feet away before she fell and died, said Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia. She said an autopsy was planned for Sunday.

Three people with the woman also ran from the car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and they were severely burned by flaming ethanol, said Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten. They were taken to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in serious to critical condition, and one was transferred to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, he said.

Officials evacuated the area on the edge of Rockford, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, Friday night amid concerns about air pollution.

At least 26 fire departments had sent crews to the scene.

Two crewmen on the eastbound Canadian National train escaped injury, Waldron said. The engine crew was able to pull 64 cars away from the fire.

Witnesses told the Rockford Register-Star that cars on the Chicago-bound train began hydroplaning in standing water as it approached the crossing.

Parts of northern Illinois may have gotten as much as 4 inches of rain Friday, said meteorologist Gino Izzi of the National Weather Service. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport measured 3.6 inches, a record for the date, he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a 14-member team investigate. Railroad Investigator Stephen Klejst will lead the team, the NTSB said in a statement. Canadian National and the Federal Railroad Administration will assist.

Officials evacuated residents of about 600 homes within a half-mile of the derailment, Bergsten said. He said potentially toxic fumes should keep them out of their homes until environmental officials give them the green light to return. The American Red Cross set up shelters at nearby churches.

“At first I thought it was a tornado because they always say a tornado sounds like a train coming,” said Jeff Tilley, a Register-Star employee who lives near the scene of the derailment.

Alicia Zatkowski, a spokeswoman for ComEd, said the derailment knocked out power to about 1,000 of the Chicago-based utility’s Rockford-area customers.