Galveston County Office of Emergency Management

SITUATION REPORT #4

SUBJECT: Santa Fe Train Derailment

DATE AND TIME: Thursday, 2-18-10, 6:30 PM

●  CURRENT SITUATION: Santa Fe Police Department, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, Hitchcock PD, Dickinson PD and area fire departments are continuing to respond to a train derailment along Highway 6 in the vicinity of Highway 6 and Avenue M. The derailment involved approximately 20 cars containing a variety of products, including liquefied petroleum gas, asphalt, molten sulfur and flue dust.

Multiple state and local responders and agencies have been involved in the response since early Thursday morning, including local police and fire departments, TxDOT, TCEQ and representatives of the railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe. As of 6 PM all of the LPG cars had been righted and moved off the tracks, along with a car containing flue dust. The sulfur cars have been moved off the rails but have not been righted. Efforts were under way at dusk to reopen Highway 6 traffic in both directions, pending restoration of power to the traffic light at FM 646 (Main Street) and Highway 6. One outside lane heading eastbound will remain blocked for cleanup operations.

●  AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS EVENT:  Santa Fe residences and businesses around the derailment along 18th Street near Avenue M. Estimated 100 residents, several businesses.

● RESPONDING AGENCIES, RESOURCES COMMITTED: Santa Fe PD, Hitchcock PD, Santa Fe ISD Police, Dickinson PD, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe Fire & Rescue, Alvin Fire and Rescue, TxDPS (4 units), TxDOT, TCEQ, BNSF Railroad, Galveston County Office of Emergency Management.

●  CASUALTIES: None reported.

●  DAMAGES: None reported.

●  EVACUATION: Initially a one-mile radius; reduced to 18th street neighborhood in vicinity of incident @ 7:30 AM. Evacuation order lifted mid-morning Thursday.

●  SHELTER:  Santa Fe Junior High School, 4132 Warpath Ave., opened briefly Thursday morning then closed after all citizens departed.

●  ROADS CURRENTLY CLOSED/IMPACTED:  Highway 6 between Avenue I and Avenue L; expected to be open in both directions by 7 PM.

●  CURRENT UTILITY OUTAGES:  None reported, except those tied to the recovery operation.

●  COMMENTS: GCOEM, currently at Level 3, continues to monitor the situation. At this time no other resources have been requested through GCOEM.

  The four (4) levels of EOC activation are:

   Level 1 (Emergency Conditions)
   Level 2 (Escalated Response Conditions)
   Level 3 (Increased Readiness Conditions)
   Level 4 (Normal Conditions)

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