By early afternoon, many other cars on the trestle needed attention 

 because it was burning at one end. These cars had to be removed from the 

 area of fire exposure. Otherwise, we would risk Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) 

 and other products becoming involved. During an earlier overflight of the 

 area, heavy equipment had been seen at a sawmill. Locomotives were 2 to 3 

 hours away in Pensacola. Thus, to avert expansion of the situation, we used 

 the log moving equipment to pull all but two of the remaining cars off the 

 trestle. 



Two methyl alcohol cars still remained on the burning trestle. Seven 

 individuals went out on. the trestle to extinguish these fires. While working 

 their way toward the derailment on the opposite bank which was about 200 feet 

 away, the seven railroad employees and fire fighters encountered an unexpected 

 event. One of the lazily venting anhydrous ammonia cars suddenly released 

 product 50 to 70 feet in the air. About 15 seconds later, one of the acetone 

 cars released all of its product with flames going some 70 to 90 feet in the 

 air. This example briefly describes the complexity of hazardous materials 

 accidents. 



During the following days, the efforts of all the agencies were commend- 

 able. Levelheaded, practical people represented the environmental agencies. 

 No unrealistic demands were made on the railroad by agency people. Our com- 

 pany participated in the decisionmaking, which enabled us to give those agen- 

 cies ample time to consider and prepare for the implementation of the approved 

 plans. It was a pleasure working with most of the people involved. 



The railroads will work with you. They will clean up their spills. They 

 will work as hard as humanly possible to mitigate the problems. However, your 

 perception of the railroad's cooperation will be affected by the degree of 

 coordination of all organizations involved. Therefore, I ask only two things: 

 1) organize and plan your responses, and 2) promote the RRT concept with all 

 government agencies involved. 



Government agencies need citizen support during a hazardous materials 

 spill. Our company wants to support the Government's position by approaching 

 spills with an organized and coordinated response that involved all concerned 

 agencies. Safety to life is paramount. Through interagency coordination and 

 participation, hazardous materials spills can be approached more efficiently 

 and effectively. 



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