On June 20,2009 Approximately 17 denatured ethanol tank cars were involved in a derailment and many were involved in the subsequent fire. At this time, it is estimated that 60k gallons of ethanol was released to an unknown creek, Rock,and Kishwaukee river. The local Rockford Fire, Hazmat team and Winnebego County Emergency Government set up an incident command post and made a tactical decision to allow the fire to burn and the alcohol to be consumed in the fire. The area received 3 inches of rain which caused a wash out of the rail tracks. One fatality was reported and six people went to the hospital with burns. The evacuation has been lifted to a voluntary evacuation and 100% of the residents have returned home. CN rail has hired CTEH to conduct air monitoring, Hulcher to re-rail the train cars and SCS to transfer the remaining liquid. CN rail has also hired ES Enviro Science to perform river assessments on both the Rock and Kishwaukee river. An un-named stream is located on the south side of the crossing and flows to the east. The stream crosses under the tracks approximately 1,800 feet east of the derailment and then flows on the north side of the tracks in a southeasterly direction for approximately 1.5 miles until it reaches the Rock and Kishwaukee River.
There has been a substantial fish kill in the Rock River where hundreds have been reported. CN rail will depoly assests to collect water samples on both rivers with a 24 hour turnaround.
