Sibley, Iowa — Northwest Boulevard in Sibley is now open after being shut down for a few hours Saturday morning due to the escape of toxic vapors from a storage tank at the site of last month’s train derailment.
Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls tells KIWA that the section of Northwest Boulevard from 12th Street to 180th Street was reopened about 12:45 Saturday afternoon.
The road was closed earllier Saturday morning after vapors escaped from a tank in which the railroad is storing the hydrochloric acid that was removed from the derailed train cars during their clean-up operation of the May 16th derailment in southern Sibley. Huls says the clean-up workers had sealed the vents on the storage tank with plastic covers which were apparently dislodged by the high winds, allowing a white cloud of vapor to be released into the air and forcing the shutdown of the area.
Chief Huls says northwest Boulevard is now open and safe to use.
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Original story posted at 9:44 am, June 12, 2021
Sibley, Iowa — A hazardous material leak from the cleanup of the last month’s train derailment in Sibley has forced the closing of a Stretch of Northwest Boulevard.
Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls says the one-mile section of Northwest Boulevard from 12th Street to 180th Street has been blocked off and there is absolutely no entry allowed into the area whatsoever.
Huls tells KIWA the action was taken after it was discovered that protective covering over vents in the storage tanks the railroad is using to store the hydrochloric acid that was pumped from the derailed train’s rail cars became dislodged by high winds, causing a leak of fumes into the air.
Crews from the railroad are en route to Sibley, according to Huls, and he says that area will be closed down until the area can be made safe.
