No one hurt in downstate derailment

DUPO, Ill. - A freight train believed to be bearing a flammable liquid used in solvents derailed in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis 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 that the train derailed at its yard about 12:45 p.m. in the town of Dupo, about 8 miles south of St. Louis. The railroad said initial information indicated that the tank car that first caught fire contained a flammable liquid called methyl isobutyl ketone that is typically used as a solvent.

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