The Porter County Health Department is investigating an outbreak of illness
among first-responders at the scene of Friday’s CSX train wreck in Jackson
Township.
At least 20 people who had been at the scene on Friday became sick 48 to 72
hours later, health officer Keith Letta told the Chesterton Tribune
today.
Letta was hoping to receive more information today and was unwilling to
speculate about the cause of the illness but he did say that it could
“possibly be something they ate.”
Even so, Letta said, “It was a huge fire. A lot of stuff was burning. Nobody
knows exactly what was burning besides the diesel fuel.”
Porter County Sgt. Larry LaFlower, who became sick himself on Monday—but was
back on the job on Tuesday—described having “flu-like symptoms,” but the
Tribune has also received anecdotal reports of first-responders’
suffering severe gastrointestinal distress.
A consensus among the first-responders to whom the Tribune has spoken
is that the stricken had one thing in common: they ate some of the food
brought to the scene, which included fast food from a chain, a meal prepared
by the Porter County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and a batch of chili
prepared on site.
LaFlower said that throughout Friday night there were well over 100
personnel at the scene of the train wreck: firefighters, police officers,
EMS, CSX officials, federal investigators, and haz-mat specialists.
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