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American Morning
Baltimore Tunnel Fire: Baltimore Fire Chief Discusses Situation
Aired July 19, 2001 - 11:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go back to our lead story. And that is the situation in Baltimore.
We're joined on the phone now by Chief Hector Torres from the Baltimore Fire Department.
CHIEF HECTOR TORRES, BALTIMORE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Chief, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
Good morning.
KAGAN: What can you tell us is latest on the situation?
TORRES: Well, right now, it is a slow-going process. We are actually involved in trying to off-load products from a hydrogen chloride tanker onto a different tanker. The one that is involved in the tunnel has a leak. And we are hoping to off-load products as quickly as we can so that we can pull those tankers out and continue our process trying to gain access into this tunnel.
Thus far, it has been very slow going. We have actually gone into this tunnel about seven cars. And we are talking about a 60-car train.
KAGAN: Really.
TORRES: So we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
KAGAN: Now, Chief, when we see this white smoke burning, what is that stuff?
TORRES: Well, the good news is that it appears to be mostly steam. There is some hydrocarbons coming off of it as well. But that's OK, because it is an indication that ordinary combustibles are burning, things like paper products and wood. We're not concerned too much about that.
We just don't -- what we don't want to see is any chemical contaminants in that smoke. And thus far, we have not seen that.
KAGAN: And that's the stuff you're trying to get off of the trains that have -- the cars that haven't started burning yet. You're trying to prevent a bigger problem, as I understand it. TORRES: That's right. We do have nine cars that do have hazardous materials. We know of one that has a leak. We think we are going to be able to deal with that successfully. We are trying to get inside the tunnel to access the other cars.
Again, the good news is, is that we have no indication that any other hazardous materials are involved.
KAGAN: So folks around that area, living around that area, visiting around the area, they don't need to be concerned about breathing the air.
TORRES: No. At this point, it appears to be safe -- contaminants coming out of the tunnel, the smoke. It's actually just at the north end right now. The south end, there is no smoke. But at the north end, there is still smoke coming from the tunnel.
But, again, it appears to be relatively safe. We are still cautioning people to stay away from the area -- do not come in contact with the smoke -- and to avoid the area if at all possible.
KAGAN: So I imagine your big problem right now is that this is actually stuck inside the tunnel. That makes it a bigger challenge.
TORRES: It is a really tough challenge. As I said, we are dealing with a hydrogen chloride leak. And if we can deal with that situation, we can get further into the tunnel. But we've got a long way to go. As I said, we are seven cars deep. We've got 60 cars to go.
We're not sure what we are going to encounter as we go deeper into this tunnel. To complicate things, there is a water leak that exacerbated the problem. There's just a multitude of sins here. But we're hoping to bring this under control soon.
KAGAN: Well, good luck, Chief, with that. And be safe out there.
Chief Hector Torres, with the Baltimore Fire Department, thank you very much.
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