MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Officials say thousands of eastern Tennessee residents are being allowed to return home after they were evacuated when a CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire.
Maryville City Manager Greg McClain said during a Friday news conference that the evacuation has been lifted for about 5,000 people who live within a mile-and-a-half radius of the crash site. Most received urgent knocks at their doors between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday by emergency workers who told them they should leave immediately.
The concern stemmed from the contents of the car that derailed: liquid acrylonitrile, a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes including making plastics. It’s flammable and it’s dangerous if inhaled. The EPA says some effects of breathing acrylonitrile include headaches, dizziness and rapid heartbeat.
