A derailed train that exploded and burned jumped the tracks again Tuesday while authorities were moving it, forcing another evacuation just hours after 2,000 people were allowed back in their homes.
One tanker, which carried butane, derailed in the center of town as officials were moving the train "at walking speed" to Canton, where the cargo was to be put on undamaged cars, CSX Transportation spokesman Lloyd Lewis said.The tanker punctured, but there was no fire. Eleven homes and three businesses were evacuated, officials said. The number of people evacuated was not immediately known. City buses stood by to carry evacuees.
The tanker car had 20,000 to 25,000 gallons of butane, but none spilled, Lewis said.
About 2,000 people had returned to their homes early Tuesday, ending a two-day evacuation.
A crew from CSX Transportation, which operated the train, had righted seven tanker cars and were moving them when the second derailment occurred.
An eighth car continued to burn, but Fire Chief George Romanski said it had exhausted most of its fuel and no longer posed a serious danger. A ninth car was also left at the scene.
The burning car was within yards of a B.F. Goodrich Chemical Plant that houses butadiene, a petroleum derivative that can produce hazardous smoke if it burns. Smoke from the burning train posed no environmental threat, Mayor Don Plusquellic said.
The regional bus system, which had been unable to operate Monday because the bus garage is near the derailed train, was back in service early Tuesday. That meant schools, which had been closed Monday, could reopen.
Homes and businesses within a half mile of the accident were evacuated about an hour after the train derailed on the Goodrich grounds Sunday night. The train was on a Willard, Ohio-to-Akron run and was not scheduled to stop at Goodrich, CSX officials said.
Twenty-one cars of the 45-car train derailed, but only two caught fire, and one of those was extinguished quickly.
No one was seriously injured. More than a dozen people were treated at area hospitals, many of them complaining of sore throats and nausea from the smoke.