Emergency crews control corrosive chemical leaking from rail car in Kannapolis

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009

KANNAPOLIS ó Firefighters and Concord’s Hazmat Team responded to a leak of a corrosive chemical from a railroad car on North Main Street Friday.
No one was reported injured, and the emergency crews had the leak in the 500 block of North Main “under control” by 10:35 a.m.
According to Fire Department spokeswoman Maria Bostian, Kannapolis firefighters got a call at 9:13 a.m. Friday about a railroad tanker car leaking hazardous material.
The first firefighters arrived three minutes later and found “the rail car leaking from a valve,” Bostian said in a press release. “After further investigation, the product was identified as a strong corrosive and oxidizer.”
Fire officials blocked off an area around the tanker car and called the Concord Hazmat Team for assistance in stopping the leak.
No more information was available about the chemical itself, the owner of the rail car and where it was bound.
Firefighters from Kannapolis Stations 1, 2 and 4 and Concord Station 7 and Cabarrus County EMS responded with a total of eight pieces of equipment and 24 personnel.