Car carrying methanol burns, affects 50 homes
By Anne Miller
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
Copyright 2007 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
BETHLEHEM, N.Y. — A train tanker car holding 22,000 gallons of highly explosive methanol caught fire at the CSX rail yard in Selkirk Thursday night, prompting an evacuation of about 50 homes.
The tanker car had been near about 25 others containing methanol - and some cars also contained the flammable ethanol - but the flames did not spread, police said.
The blaze started shortly after 7 p.m and was under control by 10 p.m., police said.
Homes within a half-mile radius were evacuated as a precaution, said Lt. Tom Heffernan of the Bethlehem Police Department.
“If that (car) exploded it could cause the others to,” he said, noting it was concerns of vapors, not fire, that convinced authorities to evacuate homes.
“If it’s inhaled, it’s a toxic fume,” he said.
The Bethlehem Town Hall was opened to residents displaced by the fire but only one person took advantage of the offer, according to police.
South Albany Road in Selkirk was closed to traffic as firefighters worked, as were several other smaller roads.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The blaze was the second serious incident at the rail yard in the past month. On Dec. 18 a train struck and killed mechanic John A. Williams. His death was ruled accidental.
The rail yards are owned by CSX, which acquired the property in 1999 as part of its acquisition, with Norfolk Southern Railway, of Conrail. The railroad runs through Bethlehem’s industrial center, surrounded by factories owned by GE Plastics, Owens Corning and others. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, methanol is also known as wood alcohol and can be used as fuel for cars or as an additive to gasoline. It is easily converted to hydrogen. While highly flammable, it is considered less so than gasoline.