Middlebury, VT is located in western Vt, approximately 35 miles south of Burlington. It has a population of under 10,000 and is located along Otter Creek, a tributary to Lake Champlain.
At approximately 2:15 pm on 10/22/07, a train carrying 15 cars of gasoline was derailed in Middlebury, VT. Each car carried approximately 25,000 gallons of gasoline. The potential spill amount was 375,000 gallons of gasoline. Fortunately, none of the cars were significantly damaged, but several were leaking through a top-side vapor collection/ventilation system.
Two small fires which broke out after the derailment were quickly controlled and extinguished with supression foam by local fire personnel.
The Middlebury VT fire chief is the incident commander. A mandatory evacuation of approximately 500 people was put into place after the incident and remained in effect until the morning of 10/23/07.
EPA R1 OSC's integrated into the command structure and conducted air monitoring (with the VTDEC and VTHMRT) in support of the incident.
Several hundred gallons of gasoline has leaked into Otter Creek over a 48 hour period. Otter Creek is a tributary to Lake Champlain. Cleanup contractors have deployed sorbent boom. No water intakes or wildlife appear to be at risk.
DOI was been notified by the OSC at 0200hrs on 10/24/07.
EPA has coordinated with ATSDR for possible exposures to the local population and re-occupation issues.
Agencies on scene: area Fire and Police, Vermont State Police, VHMRT, VT DEC, EPA, USDOT/FRA. USCG personnel from the Burlington, VT station were also present at the scene. Two additional USCG Strike Team members mobilized to the site to provide monitoring and oversight support.
The gasoline from each of the rail cars has been pumped off into 18-wheel tankers for transport to a temporary storage at a tank farm.
As of 2300hrs on 10/24, all 15 gasoline cars have been righted and placed back on the track. Cleanup of soil and monitoring of discharge to water will continue for some time under VTDEC management.
No federal removal action is currently planned for the site.
Coordinate with VTDEC and VTHMRT, and local fire/police.
All EPA personnel demobilized from the site at approximately 1200hrs on 10/25/2007.
A followup meeting with responding agencies should be scheduled to discuss response related issues.
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