Illinois train derailment causes fire, evacuations but no one hurt

DUPO, Ill. -- A freight train believed to be bearing a flammable liquid used in solvents derailed in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis on Tuesday, causing a fire that sent thick, black smoke into the air and prompted the evacuation of nearby schools and residences.

In a news release, Union Pacific said the train derailed at its yard at about 12:45 p.m. in Dupo, about 8 miles south of St. Louis. The railroad said initial information indicated the tank car that first caught fire contained a flammable liquid called methyl isobutyl ketone typically used as a solvent.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said the smoke from the fire does not pose a significant health hazard. But Dupo police said as a precaution students at a grade school, junior high school and high school were evacuated to a high school farther away. Police also said a few hundred residents of a mobile home park and a subdivision near the tracks were also evacuated.

Video showed more than 10 train cars derailed and flames shooting from the wreckage.

By about 3 p.m., officials said the fire had been extinguished and the people who were evacuated had been allowed to return to their homes. St. Clair County Emergency Management director Herb Simmons said there were no injuries reported. He also said the investigation into the derailment was continuing, including liquid leaking from some of the derailed cars.

A resident watches as a firetruck arrives in downtown Dupo, Illinois, to help fight a tanker fire from a derailed train Tuesday.Robert Cohen ~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP