When a 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 near the Pennsylvania border, the smoke plume could be seen for miles.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported 38 rail cars derailed, fire damaged an additional 12 cars, and of the train’s 20 total hazardous material cars, 11 deraile. Five of those derailed cars contained vinyl chloride, which officials released and burned, spreading it into the air.
