THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCKFORD, Illinois - A Canadian National freight train derailed northwest of Chicago, triggering an explosion that left at least two people critically injured and prompted officials to evacuate the area amid concerns more of the train's cars might catch fire.
The injured people had been in a vehicle waiting for the train to pass a crossing, when the car was bombarded with flying railroad ties from the derailment Friday night, Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten said.
Three of the people ran from the car and were severely burned by flaming ethanol from the explosion, about 80 miles (130 kilometres) northwest of Chicago, he said. They were taken to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in serious to critical condition, and one was later airlifted to Stroger Hospital in Chicago.
The fire chief said the eastbound train had 114 cars, 74 of which were tankers filled with ethanol.
Witnesses told the Rockford Register-Star that cars on the Chicago-bound train began hydroplaning in standing water just as it approached the crossing. Some of them left the tracks moments before two of them exploded.
Canadian National spokesman Patrick Waldron said the two crewmen on the train escaped injury. The engine was able to pull 64 cars still attached away from the scene.
Bergsten said 12 of the tankers were burning at midnight, and authorities said they planned to let the fire burn itself out.
"The situation is not under control, but we are making progress in getting it under control," said Kirk Wilson, a fire chief in nearby Rockton. "It's very dangerous. It's very explosive. We're not risking any firefighters' lives."
"We're letting the product burn itself out," he said. "We can't get too close to it. We're observing everything through binoculars."
Wilson, whose department was one of at least 26 that responded to the derailment, said its cause was under investigation.
Officials evacuated residents from about 600 homes within a half-mile (kilometre) radius of the derailment, Bergsten said. The evacuees were being housed at a number of churches and private homes.
"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.
Alicia Zatkowski, a spokeswoman for ComEd, said the derailment knocked out power to some 1,000 of the Chicago-based utility's Rockford-area customers. She said about 450 customers remained without power at 1 a.m. Saturday.
