Homes evacuated after 31 train cars tip over
EL CENTRO — Approximately 50 homes were evacuated after 31 railroad cars from a Union Pacific mixed-freight train left the tracks and tipped over onto their side Monday night in the northeast side of the city.
No injuries to civilians were reported, an El Centro Fire Department news release stated.
Likewise, there were no injuries to firefighters who responded to the incident, which occurred on the tracks between North Eighth and Sixth streets.
Most of the cars came to rest between Eighth and Sixth, while the remainder came to rest just east of Sixth.
No injuries were reported among the train crew, Tim McMahan, Union Pacific’s corporate relations spokesman said.
The Fire Department’s release said the cause of the derailment was unknown as of Tuesday morning, and is being investigated by railroad personnel.
“The derailment’s cause is under investigation,” McMahan said Tuesday. “Union Pacific apologizes for the inconvenience.”
At 10:56 p.m. Monday, the El Centro Police and Fire Dispatch Center began receiving multiple 911 calls regarding a train that had derailed at the intersection of Eighth and the railroad tracks.
On arrival, ECFD firefighters found the 31 railroad cars, which had come off the tracks and rolled onto their side.
Firefighters assessed the railcars for hazardous materials release. All the cars were determined to be empty, and there were no leaks of residual materials observed, the ECFD news release stated.
The derailed rail cars included empty tank cars and empty hopper cars, McMahan said. He confirmed there were no spills from the cars.
Nearby residents and businesses were evacuated from around 11 p.m. until 3 a.m. as a precautionary measure, McMahan said.
The ECFD news release said approximately 50 homes were evacuated.
A shelter was established at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sports Pavilion on Park Avenue for evacuees. The American Red Cross assisted about 50 residents.
All evacuation orders and warnings were lifted at 2:50 a.m., and all ECFD units assigned to the incident were cleared from the scene at 5:58 a.m., the news release stated.
Homes in the 500 to 800 block of Woodward Avenue, those in the 800 to 700 block of Stacey Avenue and the trailer homes in the McClure’s Trailer Park were closest to the railroad tracks where the incident occurred.
One male resident, who asked to have his identity withheld, recalled when police came to the scene and asked residents to evacuate. He said he was asked, not forced, to evacuate, as authorities didn’t know what the railroad cars contained.
Rather than go to MLK Pavilion, the resident chose to go to his mother-in-law’s house, which was nearby, with his wife and daughter.
Like many others, the man and his family walked along the railroad tracks Tuesday afternoon to get a better look at the train wreck.
Aldo Martinez, a resident in the 600 block of Woodward, compared the sound of the railroad cars falling to that of monster trucks colliding.
Martinez recalled that he heard the cars fall in sequence, rather than all at once.
As for the impact, he remembered the ground “moved like an earthquake” once the cars fell.
Martinez said he has lived in this area for only three years, but he has spoken to other residents who have lived here longer. “They tell me that the people that drive this train, they’re not very lightly with this train. They pull it, they pull — they smash it back and forth,” he said. “And it rumbles all these houses, all the time.”
He continued: “We never say nothing because we’re thinking, like, that’s part of the train, but, as we could see, this is what happens when the train is being pulled so hard and driven so hard, even if it’s metal. I want to see if there’s somebody on top here that we can talk to because this stuff is not right, the way they treat this train. It is a problem. It’s loud — every single night. I get it, it’s the train tracks, but like, pulling it and making big noises — I’m talking about enough to wake up an old lady that can’t hear.”