About 2,000 people were kept from their homes Sunday as small fires continued to burn 24 hours after the train derailed, and several of its cars exploded. They didn't see any major flames. As fires from Saturday's initial explosions began to simmer down, state police hazardous materials specialists and Union Pacific officials had turned their attention to an overturned tanker of acrylic acid. The tanker had yet to spring a leak, but authorities feared that heat from small fires still burning in the area was raising pressure inside to unstable levels. Authorities also ordered aircraft not to fly immediately over the site where 30 of 113 cars jumped the tracks on Saturday, sparking several chemical blasts that sent fireballs skyward and shattered glass a quarter-mile away.
Acrylic acid has vapors that can irritate the lungs, nose and throat.
Other chemicals on the train could cause dizziness, convulsions, lung irritation and even death if people came in contact with large amounts. While today's controlled blast was expected to hasten the cleanup, authorities said that residents who had been ordered to evacuate homes or businesses within 2 miles of the wreck should not expect to return soon. Police, however, agreed to escort a few residents to homes in outlying areas of the evacuation zone so they could check on livestock or retrieve pets. Union Pacific officials said they planned to open a claims center this morning in this town of about 11,000, located about 77 miles west of Baton Rouge. However, he said that officials flying over the site were paying special attention to the acrylic acid tank.