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North Dakota Town Evacuated Following Fiery Oil Train Derailment
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/06/north-dakota-town-evacuated-following-fiery-oil-train-derailmentThe entire population of Heimdal, North Dakota has been evacuated Wednesday morning after a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded.
A BNSF Railway oil train derailed around 7:30 am, setting at least 10 oil tanker cars on fire. The Bismarck Tribune spoke with emergency responders who "said the the sky was black with smoke near the derailment site."
About 40 people from Heimdal and the surrounding farmlands were evacuated; no injuries or fatalities have been reported.
Valley News Live reports that BNSF spokesperson Amy McBeth "says the tank cars involved in the incident are the unjacketed CPC-1232 models."
These newer tank cars are supposedly safer than older DOT-111 models, but environmentalists note that four oil train accidents in the first three months of 2015 all involved the newer CPC-1232 cars.
Just last week, groups warned that the U.S. Department of Transportation's new oil-by-train safety standards "leave communities at risk of catastrophe."
