A Pennsylvania man who evacuated his home before a controlled burn of derailed train cars carrying vinyl chloride in nearby Ohio found more than soot when he returned.
Jeremy Corbin’s Darlington Township, Pennsylvania, home is approximately 1.5 miles from the East Palestine, Ohio, location where a Norfolk Southern train derailed February 3. Upon his return home, Corbin was reportedly unsurprised to find black debris covering his yard and roof. He later found an undetonated blasting cap in a pasture near his house, according to a report from The Epoch Times.
The derailed Norfolk Southern train consisted of 151, of which “38 rail cars derailed, and a fire ensued which damaged an additional 12 cars,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The derailment occurred in a sleepy hamlet of 4,761 in the eastern Ohio town of East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania border.
Eleven of the derailed cars were transporting hazardous material, the NTSB added.
Railroad employees opted to release vinyl chloride from five railway cars to conduct a controlled burn in order to avoid a devastating explosion. The resultant fire belched heavy black smoke that billowed into the sky.
Ohio officials issued evacuation orders to hundreds of nearby residents February 4 because toxic chemicals were released. The following day, authorities warned nearby residents who had not evacuated to get out of the area in case the derailed cars exploded.
The controlled release and burn of vinyl chloride leaked into newly dug trenches was conducted at 3:30 p.m. February 6.
“The evacuation order has been lifted,” announced a February 8 Twitter post by Beaver County Emergency Services. “If you were asked to evacuate your residence due to the incident in East Palestine, you are permitted to return home. Please return in a safe and orderly manner.”
Corbin believes the blasting cap he found was used to help detonate the cars in the controlled burn, according to the Epoch Times report.
“It’s not real big. It would blow your hand off,” Corbin said about the blasting cap he found. “I contacted someone in the military and asked him about it.”
“He said don’t have any static electricity around it, don’t drop it.”
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