GASSED: The True Story of a Toxic Train Derailment

A short intro to the podcast of my two-book series GASSED: The True Story of a Toxic Train Derailment, which documents the 1996 Alberton, Montana, USA, train derailment and chemical spill. The catastrophe resulted in the largest release of chlorine gas in US railroad history, and injured hundreds, both acutely and chronically.

When their freight train crashes outside Alberton, Montana, two Montana Rail Link engineers, as well as transients on the train, struggle for their lives in the face of a massive cloud of chlorine gas.
Pictured: Spill to Petty Creek

The chemistry of liquid chlorine converting to a gas dictates how the gas spreads, and drivers on the highway are among the first to encounter the toxic cloud.
Pictured: Jack Rabbit II test. Photograph courtesy Andrew Byrnes, Utah Valley University, 2016.

We take a brief pause for some backstory. First, we drop in on a resident of Alberton, Lucinda Hodges, who has found a life for her family amid the history and beauty of western Montana—a life abruptly threatened by a chlorine gas cloud. We also examine how well responders are  prepared for a worst-case scenario.
 
 

In the first hour of the spill, 911 is overwhelmed and emergency responders are sent to the wrong location.
Pictured: Petty Creek to Huson

A cloud of toxic gas overcomes the town of Alberton, Montana.
Pictured: Spill to Petty Creek

The conclusion of the initial evacuation of the Alberton area from a toxic chlorine gas release.
Pictured: Cyr to Frenchtown

The Missoula Hazmat team conducts a recon to find the spill site, still not knowing its location; meanwhile, the gas continues to expand to the east, prompting more evacuations.
Pictured: gas cloud near Alberton, Montana.

The Missoula Hazmat team finally enters the spill site, along with a team from MRL, who have already been there. Meanwhile, the gas still drifts, causing more late evacuations.
Pictured: site illustration of tank cars
 

In the aftermath of the toxic crisis of April 11, responders take a breath to assess the day, and we take pause to evaluate the response.
Pictured: Map of the Exclusion Zone