Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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In the early hours of Saturday morning, hazmat crews detonated explosives and ignited the flammable contents of two tank cars involved in a 

train derailment near the southern Minnesota town of Ellendale.


Mayor Mark Schroch said the operation woke him up around 3:30 Saturday morning.


"Sounded like a big explosion," said Skroch. "When you looked out it was very vivid.  You could see it was just burning profusely.  And the flames shot maybe 150 to 200 feet in the air."


The explosions were designed to pierce the hulls of two cars, one carrying propane, the other butane. 


Emergency crews had determined that the "vent and burn" procedure was their only option. "There was no other way to safely recover the flammable pressurized gas remaining in the LP car damaged in the derailment, and no way to access the scene to pump off the butane car," according to a statement from Steve Belau of the Rochester Fire Department. 

The early morning derailment prompted the evacuation of nearly 700 Ellendale residents Friday, but they were allowed to return home by early afternoon.

Disasters

Environmental News

Mark Steil

Author

Emergency crews determined that a "vent and burn" procedure was their only option to safely dispose of propane and butane in derailed tank cars near Ellendale.

Crews set massive overnight fire to burn off hazmat near Ellendale

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