GRANITEVILLE -- The second phase of the return of evacuees forced from their homes by the deadly wreck of Norfolk Southern Train 192 started this morning as officials from Avondale Mills struggled to jump start their chlorine-laced textile mills.
At 8:30 a.m., Aiken County Sheriff Mike Hunt pulled back the borders of the mandatory evacuation zone to allow residents with homes even closer to the "hot zone" around the wreck to end their eight-day exile."The goal is to shrink the exclusion zone but to maintain a solid working zone," sheriff's spokesman, Lt. Michael Frank said of the cleanup process.
The early-morning Jan. 6 wreck, which was the apparent result of a switching error or malfunction on a spur line, released clouds of deadly chlorine gas from a ruptured tank car, killing nine people, including six Avondale Mills employees.
At an early-morning press conference Friday, Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said the railroad had removed 11 of 14 derailed cars from the collision. The three engines -- two that tugged Train 192 and a parked locomotive that was struck on the spur line – and the ruptured tank car are still at the crash site, although an estimate 180 tons of chlorine have been removed.
The two tankers that were not ruptured have been emptied but officials continue to drain the damaged tanker that had to be patched with steel."It's a slow process," Ms. Terpay said.
On Thursday, Sheriff Hunt allowed about half of the estimated 5,400 evacuees to return to three neighborhoods on the outer edges of the one-mile radius evacuation zone.
Only the Canal Street corridor south of Marshal Street, along with Main Street neighborhoods south of the wreck site, remained off-limits to homeowners. Sheriff Hunt said that cordon remains in place because of the presence of heavy equipment moving damaged cars from the wreck, not because of danger from chlorine contamination.
Air quality monitors scattered around Graniteville – 26 in all – haven't registered chlorine fumes except for a temporary blip Thursday at the wreck site that quickly fell back to zero, Lt. Frank said.
Environmental technicians also found no chlorine contamination at two Aiken County schools near the wreck – Leavelle-McCampbell Middle School and Byrd Elementary – raising the possibility that school officials can safely resume classes there next week, said Lt. Frank. Buses parked at the middle school are also chlorine-free.
Avondale Mills officials continued their push to resurrect their Graniteville operations despite heavy chlorine contamination that destroyed the company's computerized financial records in a data processing center and inflicted heavy damage to the Stevens Steam Plant, the energy engine for the complex immediately surrounding the wreck.
They were braced to expect the worst from corrosive chlorine that can eat up delicate circuit boards, wiring, telephone lines and electrical systems.
Steven Felker Sr., the company's principal owner and chief executive officer, said chlorine didn't damage sensitive automated machinery and controls in the company's Gregg Division plant, located 500 yards north of the wreck, raising the possibility the company can quickly resume operations once granted permission for employees to reoccupy the facility.
"The corrosion didn't get in there on those control units," he said. "I've dodged a bullet on that one."
To provide power, Mr. Felker said three giant boilers will be trucked in from Chattanooga as early as this afternoon and could be fired up within two or three days, once the company has clearance to resume operations. Not only was the Stevens Steam Plant damaged by corrosive chlorine, it is also impaired by boiler fires that continued to burn after employees fled the building, spreading to coal chutes, said Mr. Felker.
"We've had a week to think about this and were prepared for the worst and found it was way short of that," said Mr. Felker.
The company will focus its early restart efforts on the Gregg Division plant, which produces finished fabric used in slacks and other garments, and yarn-spinning operations at the Hickman Division plant.
Chlorine contamination is so heavy at the Woodhead Division plant that, as of Thursday, company officials couldn't get in to inspect damage, said Mr. Felker. But that plant is less crucial to the company's core business because it produces coated specialty fabrics for awnings and foul-weather clothing.
Mr. Felker, vowed to quickly reopen shuttered Graniteville facilities where about 1,700 workers have been idled."We want to open it all," he said.
Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395, ext. 111 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com
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