Knoxville churches affected by tanker spill
By Annette Bender
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Many worshipers were still in church when a derailed train began spewing a cloud of sulfuric acid in their Farragut community. By the end of the day, two Holston churches would cancel activities and evening worship. A third church opened its doors for evacuated residents.
A Norfolk Southern Railway tanker made national news when it derailed about 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, spilling 10,600 gallons of the toxic gas and sending 3,000 residents within a 1.3-mile radius looking for temporary shelter. Most went to hotels or homes of friends or family. Some went to Cokesbury United Methodist Church. The staff opened Cokesbury Center to displaced residents within hours of the accident. Cokesbury is about five miles away from the derailment site.
For three days, up to 50 evacuees and 20 Red Cross workers waited in Cokesbury's youth suite for news that they could return home. They ate food donated by local restaurants, watched TV news coverage of the accident, and granted media interviews. Church operations weren't hampered by the activity, Cokesbury officials said. A Sunday night youth gathering went on as planned, attracting 120 young people. Holston Conference staff members, whose offices are located in Cokesbury Center, also shared the building with evacuees.
United Methodist Women from Trinity UMC offered to donate money for the relief effort, according to Cokesbury Director of Operations Mel Stripling. The chemical spill caused no fatalities or serious injuries. Sixteen people reportedly visited nearby Fort Sanders Park West Emergency Room. Most were treated for burning eyes or burning skin. A few had respiratory problems and received breathing treatments.
Located within three miles of the derailment, Concord UMC canceled Sunday afternoon classes and a Sunday evening worship service on the day of the accident. Concord's pre-school was closed the following day, along with other nearby schools.
"We were closed for the safety of the children, but also because we knew that some of our families had been evacuated and couldn't get home to get their clothes," said Mary Ann Perdue, preschool director. The school reopened the following day.
About 30 to 50 Concord families were evacuated from their homes, according to Administrative Assistant Catherine Barnett. Several church members weren't able to return to their homes after attending worship services.
The Rev. Catherine Nance, Concord associate pastor, was unaware of the chemical spill when she returned home after church, but could see what she thought was a plume of smoke. Later, Nance, her husband and two sons learned from TV reports that the plume contained sulfuric acid fumes. Since their neighborhood was less than a mile from the accident, Nance's family and neighbors left.
"It wasn't a big deal," she said. "We stayed in a hotel. The worst part was wearing the same clothes from Sunday morning to Tuesday afternoon." About 1 1/2 miles from the derailment site, First Farragut UMC is across the highway from two of the 18 evacuated subdivisions. The church was holding a patriotic worship honoring 12 local service men and women when several emergency pagers began to beep.
Worshipers assumed the beepers were part of a routine day for firefighters and other service people until they began to hear "sirens going off around us," said the Rev. Bernice Kirkland. "Then we knew that something was definitely happening."
First Farragut canceled Bible studies and youth gatherings on Sunday evening. The church office remained open on Monday and Tuesday but church functions "didn't really return to normal" until Tuesday evening, Kirkland said. Among the "dozens" of First Farragut members evacuated from their homes, many chose to stay with other church members, she said.
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