ROSEDALE, Md. — A CSX freight train carrying chemicals crashed into a trash truck on Tuesday and derailed in this Baltimore suburb. The explosion that followed rattled homes at least a half-mile away, sending up a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles, officials and witnesses said.
The train went off the tracks about 2 p.m. Hazardous materials teams were called to the scene, but Kevin Kamenetz, the Baltimore County executive, said at a news conference that no toxic inhalants were burning, and officials did not order an evacuation.
The truck driver was taken to the hospital in serious condition and two CSX workers aboard were uninjured, fire officials said.
A plume of black smoke drifted across the city line and covered the eastern part of Baltimore. The face of a warehouse near the train tracks was blown off.
A CSX spokesman, Gary Sease, said that sodium chlorate was on the train, which the Department of Transportation classifies as a hazardous material. Chief John J. Hohman of the Baltimore County Fire Department said, however, that the chemical was not in any of the cars that were still burning into the evening. A bleaching agent, sodium chlorate is used in making paper.
At least a dozen cars were off the tracks. Mr. Sease said four of the ones believed to have derailed carried terephthalic acid, which is used in the production of plastics and polyester, among other things. It is not listed as a hazardous material, he said.
One of the cars still burning was carrying terephthalic acid, and another was carrying fluoroacetic acid, Chief Hohman said. Fluoroacetic acid can be used as a pesticide.He said that two warehouses were heavily damaged by the explosion and other buildings were harmed, but that none collapsed.
An Amtrak spokeswoman said its Northeast Corridor service was not affected.
