Families Return Home Amid Dust, Noise, Anxiety

Two days after a train derailed in her neighborhood near Whittier, Elizabeth Toscano returned home. It wasn’t long before she heard a locomotive rumble by on newly replaced tracks.

“It’s scary coming back,” said Toscano, 26, who shares a home with her mother and older brother. “Is it going to happen again ... ? You don’t know what to expect. Material stuff is replaceable. Your life isn’t.”

The Toscanos were among two dozen families evacuated Saturday after 11 Union Pacific boxcars jumped the tracks, crashing into Croton Avenue backyards and dumping dozens of cargo containers.

No one was seriously injured, but four houses in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County were damaged and power was knocked out, forcing the evacuation of residents. All but two families, whose homes suffered the worst damage, returned Monday.

Some were relieved at not having to stay another night in a hotel. But for others, their homecoming was tinged with anxiety.

Laura Saucedo, 23, and her sister, Gabriela, 17, said they are thinking about moving because of the accident.

“The train was flipped sideways ... right outside our window. Can you imagine if it had flipped the other way?” Laura Saucedo said. “It’s frightening.”

Officials say the derailment appears to have been caused by a broken rail, but they have not determined what caused the steel section to fail.

The derailment, which caused 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel to spill, is being investigated by the California Public Utilities Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Repair crews worked around the clock over the weekend to remove debris from the corridor and rebuild 1,000 feet of track, assembling segments of steel “much like a model railroad,” said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific.

The corridor was reopened to trains Sunday evening. The tracks, which serve freight trains as well as Metrolink’s Los Angeles-to-Riverside commuter-rail line, average 40 trains a day.

On Monday, residents dealt with dust and noise from the cleanup operations.

“I’m upset!” shouted Gilbert Fierro, 67, as he stepped through his dust-filled house, while a giant suction used to clean up diesel-contaminated soil, rocks and other debris roared outside.

With Union Pacific claims representative Kurt Blodgett at his side, Fierro pulled open his refrigerator door.

“What do I do with this?” he asked, as the smell of sour milk and rotten food wafted into the room.

“I’d get rid of all of it,” Blodgett replied. “You dump it; we’ll replace it.”

As Fierro and Blodgett continued their inspection, Fierro’s daughter, Tanya, 29, stomped out the front door with two duffle bags. She was going back to the hotel, she said.

“There’s dust in the air. There’s wires everywhere. It’s not safe,” she said, coughing. “We’re next door to a disaster area.”