Twitter lit up shortly after 2 p.m. with reports of an explosion and loud noise in east Baltimore.

Baltimore County Police Tweeted this report:

“Fire units o/s at derailed cargo train w/ fire, 7500 blk Lake Dr., White Marsh. No reports of injuries. ATR, hazmat responding.”

Update

Baltimore County police reported that they were responding to a derailed CSX freight train in the 7500 block of Lake Drive, in the Rosedale area.

Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost has been telling broadcast media that a truck driver was pulled from the scene and that his condition is unclear.

Otherwise so far there appear to be no injuries, but HAZMAT units are responding. First responders on emergency radio channels are discussing treating people for breathing problems.

Emergency personnel discussing concerns about what material is burning in the rail cars – “the hoppers” – that are still blazing away in the industrial area where the derailment occurred.

On Twitter, people reported having car and house windows blown out and hearing – and feeling – the explosion as faraway as Canton.

Listening to scanner talk here:

https://vees.net/scanner/

From Facebook, a video of the burning wreck – with some additional explosions plus numerous f-bombs, n-word, other language some will find offensive.

 

“The media staging area for the Baltimore County incident will be on Pulaski Highway by 68th Street between the Shell and BP Station.” says John Kawalczyk, Baltimore County Police spokseman, via email.

UPDATE 5 p.m. news conference

The train “had some contact” with a commercial trash truck, causing an explosion, and the derailment of 15 train cars, two of which are on fire, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz told the media at the scene.

The driver was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma where he is in serious but stable condition, Kamenetz said. Two nearby warehouses were damaged – the facing blown off one and the doors blown off the other, Kamenetz said.

Two people in the train at the time of the crash were not injured.

Kamenetz said the substances in the two tank cars – which were still burning at 5:30 p.m. judging by live television feeds – is hazardous but “not a toxic inhalant.”  Baltimore County Fire Chief John J. Hohman identified the substances as  “teraphaelic acid”  in Car 9 (did he mean terephthelic?) and fluorolitic acid in Car 8. (Did he mean fluorolytic?)  (He also referred to it at one point as ” fluoride.” Name spellings on these compounds is going to have to be confirmed.)

Responding to a reporter’s question about another car she said does contain a substance “classified as a hazardous material,” Hohman said: “that car is not burning at this time.”

That substance is sodium chlorate, an oxidizer used in a variety of industrial processes, according to a CSX news release.

Hohman said firefighters were on the scene ready to stop the spread of the fire to other cars. Live footage showed them spraying water on the area around the blaze.

The Brew continues to get emails and Tweets, like this one (from @dowzerw) from readers who heard the explosion from many miles away.

“@BaltimoreBrew @wbal heard the explosion from lower Severna Park @BACOemergency @MD511State #Rosedale #CSX derailment”

UPDATE

Press release from CSX:

CSX is working with emergency responders at Rosedale, Maryland, on the derailment of a CSX freight train. CSX’s top priority is the safety of the community, the emergency responders and the environment, and an emergency response plan is activated to provide full support.

CSX understands that at least one person, the driver of a truck struck by the train immediately before the derailment, was seriously injured. CSX’s train crew – a locomotive engineer and conductor – was not seriously injured. CSX encourages area residents to monitor news reports and notification systems to be advised of any road closures or evacuation orders.

An investigation is under way. The train was en route from Selkirk, N.Y., to Waycross, Ga., when the derailment occurred around 2 p.m. today. It appears that about a dozen rail cars are involved, including at least one rail car containing a material classified by U.S. Department of Transportation as a hazardous material. That is sodium chlorate, an oxidizer used in a variety of industrial processes. The train was being pulled by two locomotives and had 45 rail cars, containing a variety of products from lumber to printing paper.

UPDATE 9 p.m.

Here’s text of a news release from Baltimore County’s Elise Armacost:

 

CSX train collides with truck, derails in Rosedale

Rosedale, Md. (May 28, 2013, 9 p.m.) – Baltimore County fire crews continue to make good progress extinguishing a fire in two cars of a CSX train that collided with a large truck earlier today. Hazmat crews have cleared the scene; firefighters expect to work into the night to suppress this fire.

The incident occurred in a mostly industrial section of Rosedale along U.S. 40, in the 7500 block of Lake Drive.

The fire has been contained to those two cars, Car 8 and Car 9. One car was carrying terephthalic acid, the other was carrying fluorosillicic acid. Firefighters must cool the material in the cars with water before applying foam. The foam will blanket the fire and cut off the oxygen supply.

Hazmat experts from Baltimore County and Baltimore City fire departments, as well as from CSX, say the burning chemicals do not produce toxic inhalants. However, fire officials encourage residents to avoid excessive exposure to the smoke.

(Two other derailed cars were carrying different chemicals, but those cars are intact and do not pose a threat.)

At about 6 p.m., as residents of about 60 homes just west of the incident – on 62^nd, 63^rd and 64^th streets – were offered the opportunity to shelter at the Rosedale Volunteer Fire Co. if they chose to leave their homes while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire. About five adults, five children and a few pets did so; the remainder chose to shelter in place at home.

Rosedale VFC will remain available throughout the evening for those who need it.

During earlier stages of the incident, as the event was evolving and fire officials assessed the threat, fire officials encouraged everyone in a 20-block radius to shelter in place.

A Regional Incident

This incident generated a regional response. Agencies assisting BCoFD and BCoPD include Baltimore City Fire, Maryland Department of the Environment, Martin’s Fire Department, BWI Fire Department, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services Systems and CSX.

Fire dispatchers received the call for a train derailment at 2:02 p.m. The train was moving southbound when it collided with a waste hauling truck. The train continued moving for several hundred feet before 15 cars derailed. An explosion quickly followed, sending a huge cloud of black smoke into the air.

Several nearby warehouses were damaged, two significantly.

Other than the truck driver, identified as John J. Alban Jr., 50, of the 1400 block of Sussex Road, no one was injured. Alban was rescued by firefighters and EMS personnel and transported to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, where he remains in serious condition.

Alban is a retired firefighter with the Baltimore County Fire Department, as well as a volunteer at the Hyde Park Volunteer Fire Co.

The National Transportation Safety Board will oversee the investigation of this incident. Baltimore County Police will be involved in the investigation of why and how the crash between the train and the truck occurred.