TISKILWA, Ill. — With flames shooting up in the predawn sky from a train derailment just blocks from her home, a 17-year-old girl refused to evacuate until she helped a paralyzed young neighbor with cancer get to safety. She then banged on the doors of seven houses to make sure other neighbors were awake and out of harm’s way.
“In small communities, you know everybody,” Cynnandra Luttrell said. “It means more.”
Explosions shook the north-central Illinois village of Tiskilwa early Friday when a freight train loaded with highly flammable ethanol crashed and ignited, sending bright orange flames jetting skyward and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
Capt. Steve Haywood of the Ottawa Fire Department said the train’s tanker cars were shipping ethanol and other materials for Decatur-based corn processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. when it derailed about 2 a.m. At least six tanker cars burned, he said. No injuries were reported.
The evacuation of Tiskilwa, a village of about 800 people about 100 miles west of Chicago, was precautionary and there was no immediate danger, said Les Grant, a spokesman for Bureau County Emergency Management.
Twenty-six cars on the 131-car train derailed, including seven to nine loaded with ethanol, said Mick Burkart, chief operating officer of Iowa Interstate Railroad. The fire prevented officials from immediately getting close enough to the train to determine what caused the accident, Burkart said.
