MONUMENT, CO
Over 250 homes in the Monument area were evacuated on April 20 due to a leak of hydrochloric acid from a tanker on a northbound Burlington Northern Sante Fe train.  The vapor leak was noticed by a train going in the opposite direction.  The northbound train was stopped just inside the town of Monument where it was discovered that there was a slow leak of hydrochloric acid coming from a train car.  

A patch has been applied to the tanker as a stop gap measure until the clean up crew arrives from Fort Worth, Texas to transfer the acid to another tanker.  The situation is stable and crews from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado State Patrol Hazmat teams are monitoring the car.  The Monument Police Department, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, BNSF, Colorado State Patrol and the TriLakes Fire Department, American Medical Response and District 38 are working together  to ensure the safety of the public, the responders and the environment.