Residents in a four-mile radius from a railroad in North Platte, Nebraska were asked to evacuate after a train car carrying perchloric acid exploded Thursday.
Toxic white smoke billowed into the sky after a fire engulfed a stationary railcar following the explosion shortly after noon.
“Emergency evacuation for the area between splinter and front North of railroad track due to fire at the railroad involving heavy toxic smoke,” the North Platte Volunteer Fire Department said.
“Explosion at Union Pacific Railroad Bailey Yards at approximately 12:10 p.m.”
In a later update, officials announced that the fire had been contained but asked residents between Homestead and Front to “be prepared to evacuate in the next one to two hours due to wind and weather changing.”
Union Pacific Railroad said that the blast involved a container before flames caught several other railcars. One of the cars contained the hazardous chemical.
