A detailed timeline of events has been released explaining what led up to the controlled burn of derailed train cars in East Palestine.
 
It was created using texts, e-mails, and other information.
 
On February 3, 2023, around 9 p.m., a large fire lit up the sky in East Palestine as 38 Norfolk Southern train cars derailed, 5 of them carrying what they believed was consistent with toxic vinyl chloride.
 
The rail company was notified. 
 
 The next day February 4th, beginning at 7:58 a.m. CHEMTREC emergency service specialists are notified. 
 
At 8:22 Occidental Petroleum Company and by 9:41 a.m. Oxyvinyls SDS which is stated having some of the cars were on the railroad. 
 
 Three of the five rail cars were burning from the protective housing. One was jetting flames, the plan was to hot tap and liquid flare them and wait for the flames to burn out. 
 
Temperatures were monitored on a regular basis when it was safe to do so. 
 
By 3:00 p.m. all flares stopped venting but all car trains continued burning.
 
 By 5:30 that evening a sustained flame erupted and continued.
 
By 7:15 train cars are too hot for crews thermal scan them. But they report no signs of imminent danger. 
 
By 9:16 pm conditions worsen prompting evacuation of the hot zone. 
 
 
February 5th, Occidental Petroleum Corporation requests an assessment of a BLEVE which stands for  Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. Many lives can be lost in a BLEVE.
 
7:48 a.m.  Occidental Petroleum Corporation reached out to Norfolk Southern with safety concerns and in a separate e-mail wants to discuss reroutes to serve other plants. 
 
By 5:30 pm the fires subsided a lot, three cars had what they describe as lazy fires.  
 
But they fear polymerization has plugged a valve due to one car venting pressure every 30 seconds every 
two minutes for 15 hours. 
 
By 6 pm there is a telephone conference to move forward with a vent and burn all at once. 
 
A vapor cloud is their concern.
 
An aluminum housing has melted on what they describe as an angry car.
 
 
 By 7:50 PM February 5th Columbiana County EMA expressed concern for one tank care of vinyl heating 
up that could be expected to fail that night or early next morning.
 
Arrangements are made to bring in a demolition team that night.
 
Ohio law enforcement and firefighters started closing roads and going doors ordering people to leave their homes. 
 
At 8:10 p.m. Pennsylvania EPA reported temperatures on the rail cars were steady and the majority of the fire has died down.
 
But by 10:26 p.m. PA EPA noted one train car was involved in fire more than others and stopped venting.
 
Norfolk Southern and the manufacturer determine it's starting to polymerize and, It's not a question of if but when it will fail if the car holds overnight. 
 
Arrangements were made for demolition experts to arrive overnight. 
 
 
February 6th at 6:27 a.m. meetings were held with local officials to explain changing conditions and that an explosion could occur warranting the vent and burn.
 
 Although temperatures have decreased they express concerns about pressure release valve function being gummed up by polymerization. 
 
1:56 p.m. on that day Governor Mike DeWine let residents know the evacuation zone had been increased and a controlled release of the product will take place at 3:30 p.m. that day.
 
3:15 p.m. temperatures were holding steady. 
 
3:37 p.m. Vent and burn charges blow up all five tank cars at once creating a cloud of chemicals totaling 150,000 gallons. 
 
The burn time was estimated to take two hours. 
 
February 8th 5:28 pm Governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania along with local officials announce that evacuated residents in and around East Palestine can now safely return home. 
 
Trains were back running before many residents arrived home. 
 
Many people who live in and around ground zero and who were impacted by toxic chemicals flowing down streams in Ohio and Pennsylvania have been asking if Norfolk Southern just blew the rail cars up because the company was making money. 
 
Whether blowing up the tanks all at once was done for safety reasons or for monetary reasons to get the trains running back on tracks will be determined in the next few months by the National Transporation Safety Board, or NTSB, which is investigating.