BLAST AT NEBRASKA RAILYARD PROMPTS EVACUATIONS
An explosion inside a shipping container at the world’s largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska on Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.
Around noon, an explosion occurred inside an intermodal container on a railcar at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, though it wasn’t clear what caused the explosion, railroad spokesperson Robynn Tysver said. No one was injured, and no cars derailed.
Authorities evacuated everyone within a one-mile radius of the explosion in the western end of the railyard because of the smoke, and U.S. Highway 30 was closed between North Platte and Hershey. Interstate 80 wasn’t affected by the smoke. It wasn’t immediately clear how many homes were included in the mostly rural area that was evacuated on the edge of the city. North Platte, which is about 230 miles east of Denver and about 250 miles west of Omaha, has a population of about 23,000.
The railroad said the fire had been extinguished by 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Earlier, the North Platte Fire Department said in a post on social media site X that the evacuations were done because the fire at the railyard involved “heavy toxic smoke.” Fire officials didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking more details.
One of the containers involved was carrying perchloric acid, which is used in explosives as well as a variety of food and drug products, Tysver said. The car that exploded had been stationary for a couple hours beforehand, authorities said.
Joanna Le Moine, deputy director of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency, said officials are monitoring the situation and the weather to determine which direction the smoke will go “to help keep responders and citizens safe out of an overabundance of caution.”