East Palestine residents return home, clean up a week after Ohio train derailment

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — This village just over the Pennsylvania border remained somewhat of a ghost town Friday, a week after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caused a dangerous fire that burned for days.

On Wednesday, Ohio authorities lifted an evacuation order that had been issued for those living and working near the derailment site.

By Friday, more than four out of every five businesses in the village’s downtown remained closed and few people could be seen walking around. It was unknown when businesses such as the Corner Store, China Cafe or Sprinklz On Top, the town’s ice cream shop, would reopen.

An electronic billboard downtown provided a phone number for people to call to request home air testing.

Streets and driveways near the derailment site sat largely empty. Many residents in the village of 4,700 people have yet to return.

Even the village’s municipal building, which was open, was quiet. Town officials did not return calls seeking comment.

The silence was interrupted periodically throughout the day by the sound of Norfolk Southern trains passing through East Palestine’s downtown again — to the chagrin of some residents.

“People are anxious to be home but very leery — there’s still a lot of doubt with feeling safe,” said Melissa Smith, who lives on a 165-acre farm less than a mile from the derailment site. She also owns the 1820 Co., a candle company on downtown’s North Market Street.

There’s been a lot to do for those returning, she said.

“A lot of people, they’re changing their furnace filters, getting their air tested and getting their houses scheduled for power-washing,” Smith said.

After the evacuation order was issued, Smith fled to a Best Western hotel in Columbiana, Ohio, a 20-minute drive from her home. She didn’t hesitate to leave.

On the day of the derailment, she said her village “looked like a California wildfire met a volcano eruption.”

“Nobody likes to be out of their comfort zone, so obviously everybody wants to be at their homes and their businesses,” Smith said. “The biggest worry is doing it safely and getting back to normal. I don’t see that happening in the next two days. I think it’s going to take a little time. It’s going to take the coming weeks to get this all straightened out.”

Smith fretted while watching Cleanup Services of North Lima, Ohio, apply steam, soap and surfactants — a substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved — through her North Market Street shop with wands and vacuums.

Mike Davis, the manager of Cleanup Services, estimated his crew would handle 25 to 30 more jobs before the end of Friday.

“The unknown is what (residents) are concerned about,” Davis told the Tribune-Review. “They don’t know what the risk is. I think that’s everybody’s concern right now: what’s the long-term risk?”

“This isn’t necessarily something we usually target, but we’re so close and we saw the need and we started getting so many calls,” he added. “We figured we might as well deploy the troops and helps as many folks out here as we could.”

Some questioned the fate of pets left behind during the evacuation. There had been some media reports of animals dying. Others played that down.

East Park Veterinary Clinic — which operates in Columbiana, a 10-mile drive up Route 14 from East Palestine — had not received any calls to date about sickened pets near the site of the toxic chemical burn and derailment, an employee there said.

Back on East Palestine’s North Market Street, Joy Mascher said she was worried about the approaching Valentine’s Day holiday.

Mascher — who didn’t leave her home because she lives three miles from the derailment site, outside the mandatory evacuation zone — typically has some 40 or 50 orders at her East Palestine flower shop, Flowers Straight From The Heart, a week before Valentine’s Day. It is normally the shop’s biggest money-making holiday.

This year? They have three orders.

“It’s a very busy holiday, which we depend on,” Mascher said as she paused in front of a glass case of flowers.

Mascher blames Norfolk Southern.

“What cleanup effort?” she quipped when asked about cleaning the rugs in her shop. “(Norfolk Southern is) only interested in getting their train tracks open. … Nobody told us, ‘Go in, wipe down this.’ There’s nothing, nothing whatsoever.”

Norfolk Southern disagreed.

The rail company directed media inquiries to the company’s website, which addressed returning home after the evacuation and its Family Assistance Center. They also provided the phone number for a toxicologist.

“We appreciate that this has been a very difficult time for these residents,” Norfolk Southern spokesman Connor Spielmaker told the Tribune-Review on Friday. “We’re here to help. We’re assisting residents who had expenses during the evacuation period with reimbursements, as well as compensation for having to leave their homes.”

Smith said she has been thrilled with the response from East Palestine’s elected leaders and firefighters and the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Department.

“When you live in a small community, everybody knows everybody, so they felt a personal, vested interested in protecting the community,” Smith said as she looked out the window of her shop to the empty street outside. “I do feel like they were looking out for us.”