“We do have a disaster plan that was thought out with the tracks being so close,” he said.
Sherrock said having hazardous materials sometimes transported on the tracks doesn’t bother him because it is a fact of life. He said the risk associated with trains carrying hazardous chemicals is similar to semi trucks on the highway.
Lisa D’Allessandris, director of the Clark County Emergency Management Agency, said there is a plan in place in the event of a train derailment involving hazardous materials. She said the base plan would be adjusted based on each individual incident, and evacuation plans are included.
“It would involve the fire department making the determination that there is the need for evacuation,” she said.
If there would be any sort of incident that required evacuation, D’Allessandris said the county EMA would notify residents in the area via a mass communication system. However, that system only calls landline telephones and cell phones that have registered for the service on the local EMA’s website.
D’Allessandris said she did not have an estimate of the number of people who live near the train tracks in the downtown area.
Springfield resident Vernon Engle said he has lived at his home near the tracks for 55 years. He said he isn’t concerned about trains carrying hazardous materials several hundred feet away.
Engle said notifying residents if a hazardous chemical is being transported could be a lot of work for no reason.
“That’d be a lot of notifying people for nothing if nothing happens,” he said.
However, some of Engle’s neighbors disagree.
Larry Sims has lived in his home for 13 years and has often wondered what the trains that go by everyday are carrying.
“I’d like to be aware of what they’ve got,” he said. “I want to take precautions if I need to in case something does happen.”
Sims’ neighbor Ronald Palmer agreed that being told when hazardous chemicals will be going by would be a benefit.
“They should tell us just to let you know,” Palmer said.
Clark County Public Library Director Sally Rizer said notifying businesses close to the track, like the main branch of the library, of hazardous materials wouldn’t make a train wreck any less dangerous.
“If there were a train wreck, it would be a danger no matter what,” she said.
The only difference might be that hazardous materials would not need to be as close to the library to cause problems if an accident occurred, Rizer said.
Dave Pidgeon, manager for public relations for Norfolk Southern, the company whose train derailed in Columbus and that has trains going through downtown Springfield, said the company does not generally comment on whether notification is given to local authorities because of security and safety concerns.
Sims said letting citizens know if chemicals will be transported through their area would be one solution, but the train companies should look for other ways to not endanger residents near the tracks.
“There are no stops in the city, they just go through,” he said. “Move out on the outskirts of town.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0263 or bethany.bruner@coxinc.com.
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