ORANGE : Leaking Chemical Prompts Evacuation

A hazardous materials team worked into the night Monday trying to stem the flow of a potentially dangerous liquid industrial compound that was leaking from an overturned railroad tanker car and led officials to evacuate 100 people.

The team, composed of Orange, Orange County and Santa Ana firefighters and Southern Pacific Railroad workers, was trying to plug the tanker, which was leaking 23,000 gallons of toluene diislyanate, a chemical whose vapors can cause respiratory damage if inhaled, Orange Battalion Chief Dick Dittberner said. The chemical is used in the manufacturing process of dies and paints.

The tanker was going to Great Western Carpet Cushion Co. in Orange, said Southern Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney in San Francisco.

About 100 people were evacuated from nearby businesses in an industrial section near Batavia Street and Taft Avenue. No one was injured and no homes were threatened, officials said, and there was no threat of explosion. As of 7 p.m., about 1,500 gallons had leaked out, Dittberner said.

The incident began about 2:30 p.m., when the car tipped over while a Southern Pacific crew was trying to put it back on the tracks. Witnesses said the car came off the tracks Friday night, but it had remained upright as crews worked to reset it over the weekend.

The car fell Monday after the crew apparently attached it to a crane and tried to set it back on the tracks. It slipped and toppled sideways, crashing into a brick wall behind Alterman Transportation Lines.

Furtney said Southern Pacific railroad investigators would examine what led to the tanker’s derailment and spill.

Dittberner said the Fire Department was not told by the railroad of the derailed car until after it fell.

Bill Currier, Southern Pacific’s regional superintendent, declined comment.