ORANGE : Workers Stay Home as Cleanup Continues

A mile-square industrial section of the city remained evacuated Tuesday as a hazardous materials team spent a second day cleaning up a potentially dangerous toxic solvent that leaked from a toppled railroad car.

About 250 people were told to stay home from work as more than 20 businesses in the area near the intersection of Batavia Street and Taft Avenue were ordered closed by the Orange Fire Department. Taft was also closed to traffic between Batavia and Glassell Street.

Orange Battalion Chief Dick Dittberner said the Southern Pacific Railroad tanker, which originally contained 19,000 gallons of toluene diislyante, was put upright with a crane early Tuesday morning and the leak was stopped but not before as much 6,000 gallons of the solvent escaped. The chemical, used in the manufacturing of dies and paints, can cause respiratory damage if its vapors are inhaled. It was being delivered to a nearby carpet company.

About 70 members of the Orange, Santa Ana and Orange County fire departments, the Orange police and other public agencies--many outfitted in plastic suits--were involved in the cleanup effort, along with workers from Southern Pacific. They brought in vacuum trucks to suck up the spill and backhoes and trucks to remove the contaminated soil.

Dittberner said Southern Pacific will probably have to pay for all cleanup costs, including the salaries of public workers.

Two Southern Pacific Railroad police officers standing guard near the accident were briefly hospitalized early Tuesday after they became nauseated and it was feared that they had inhaled fumes, Dittberner said.

“But it turns out they became sick because they had been sitting in an idling car for four hours and carbon monoxide had built up inside,” he said.

The spill occurred Monday afternoon when the car tipped over as a Southern Pacific crew was trying to put it back on the rails. It struck a brick wall behind Alterman Transportation Lines, 1601 Batavia St. The car had derailed Friday night but had remained upright until Monday’s incident.