HERNDON -- A 27-year-old transient suffering from an apparent chemical burn to his stomach was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital Monday morning, but not before contaminating two ambulance workers and bringing hazardous-materials teams, DEP, police and a host of emergency responders to the south end of this small borough.
The man told firefighters he had been riding a railroad tanker car into Herndon Sunday night, where he apparently came in contact with the chemical, and slept at a pavilion at a playground near the railroad tracks before seeking medical assistance Monday morning for his worsening condition.
A number of questions remained Monday about the bizarre incident -- including what the chemical was that caused the illness, and the man's name. According to a police report obtained around 10:15 p.m. Monday evening, his name would not be released unless charges were filed. His story was being questioned, too.
"Based on information we received from Norfolk Southern, the train theory may or may not be correct," Paul Froutz, Northumberland County director of public safety, said Monday afternoon. "Police have other leads they are checking on."
No matter the veracity of his story, the man -- who reportedly had blistering on his stomach -- walked through a mobile decontamination shower set up in a large parking lot between the Herndon Senior Action Center and Eagle Ridge Contracting along Route 147 at about 11 a.m. Monday, when the temperature was about 28 degrees. Then -- with only a white towel wrapped around his midsection, he walked into an Americus Ambulance and was transported about a quarter-mile to the south side of Inch Memorial Field, where he was wheeled on a stretcher to an awaiting Life Flight helicopter that had landed on the ballfield.
The subject was on his way for help, but questions about what had happened -- and a police investigation -- were just beginning.
Asking for help
The incident caused quit a stir in the borough throughout the day. According to firefighters and others who were interviewed, this is what transpired.
The transient, still at the playground pavilion, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the railroad tracks, encountered an Amish man who was headed from the Herndon Reload lumber plant just north of the playground to nearby Herndon National Bank at about 8:15 a.m.
The Amish man later told Brian Lenker, owner of the Herndon House, that the transient wanted to know the location of the closest Wal-Mart. He showed the man blistering on his stomach, and the Amish man suggested he seek medical assistance. The man said he'd be alright.
The man then apparently went to Zerby Motors garage, up over a hill from the pavilion and next to the Herndon House, and asked for a first aid kit, Lenker was told. He sat in the shop for a short while, but did not tend to his wound while there.
Having been told about the Sunoco convenience store at the Routes 147-225 intersection a couple miles south of Herndon, he decided to walk there. He said after he got something to eat, he might seek help.
Lenker said the man told the two people he encountered that he was either from Alaska or had come from Alaska. Others at the scene of his decontamination reported he was from New Hampshire.
Lenker said he saw what he believed to be the man's sleeping gear -- at least a blanket -- removed from the pavilion later Monday by authorities. Police tape surrounded the pavilion by early Monday afternoon.
Froutz did say that items belonging to the man were removed from the pavilion for testing.
The transient told the Amish man he had slept on top of a picnic table under the pavilion, perhaps choosing the wooden structure over the concrete floor despite temperatures that were forecast to drop into the low teens Sunday night.
Lenker said both men he spoke to about the incident said the transient didn't appear to be a typical "hobo." He was told that he was limping when he left the garage, and that he had told people something to the effect that he was being burned up inside.
Knocking on doors
As the transient got to an area about a mile north of the convenience store, at a stretch of several mobile homes, across Route 147 in the area of Shaffer's Venison store, he apparently knocked on one or more doors. Those who answered did not let the stranger inside, but they did summon help, according to Ron Hinkley, assistant fire chief for Herndon.
The man waited on a porch until a Dalmatia Ambulance crew arrived and began transporting the man, apparently to Sunbury Community Hospital.
About one mile into the trip, however, ambulance staff members Eric Shrawder and Ed Carl Sr. began to be overcome by fumes coming from the man's clothing, and were suffering respiratory problems. They pulled over in the parking lot near the senior action center, and a call for further emergency response was placed at 9:45 a.m., Hinkley said.
He was told by another EMS worker that the transient said he was riding a tanker car, and that his clothes had an unknown chemical on them and he was "suffering from burns to his mid-section."
Fire crews from Dalmatia and Herndon, ambulance crews from Sunbury and Trevorton and Shamokin Rescue 62 and its hazardous materials team were also dispatched. The hazmat team set up the decontamination shower.
"Anyone who had any contact with the individual, whether it be the ambulance workers or the members of the hazmat team, went through the decontamination shower," Hinkley said.
The transient, Shrawder and Carl were scrubbed down inside the tarped shower to protect their privacy, while the hazmat team members went under a shower in their suits to clean off.
While the transient was flown to Lehigh Valley (without his name, a condition could not be sought), Shrawder and Carl were taken by ambulance to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville. They were treated and released, a nursing supervisor said later Monday.
Hinkley said his didn't get a good enough look at the transient or his clothing to see if there were any signs that he had jumped from a moving train. He was told the only evident injury was the chemical burn.
Among the rumors circulating Monday was that the man's burn was older than what he was claiming.
Albert Shutt, Herndon emergency management coordinator, said Monday night he had been briefed by Shrawder -- who is his assistant -- and that it was considered an isolated situation with no reason for public concern.
Cleanup lasts all day
Froutz said various officials were conducting on-site testing until approximately 4:30 p.m. Monday.
"We tested for about two to three hours, but could not determine on scene what the substance was, so DEP will be taking the evidence back to the lab for further testing," he said.
Hinkley said a hazardous material clean-up crew was on scene Monday evening, cleaning the ambulance inside and out as it remained in the parking lot.
Railroad response
An SUV that said Norfolk Southern Police Officer was parked at the decontamination site, joining emergency responders, state police and DEP officials.
The company's director of public relations, contacted later at the Norfolk Southern Corp. in Plymouth Meeting, suggested the company wasn't buying the transient's story.
"The report from the individual was that he had gotten on the train in Philadelphia and gotten off in Herndon," said Rudy Husband, working with information that he had been provided from the scene. "Norfolk Southern does not operate any trains between Philadelphia and Herndon."
Husband did say the company operate trains through Herndon on what's called the Buffalo Line, but he said he wouldn't address further questions -- including details on recent chemical transportation -- pending completion of the state police investigation.
He said trains traveling in Herndon operate at a maximum track speed of 50 mph.
DEP officials could not be contacted off-site because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. They were also not expected to comment further today because of the gubernatorial inauguration activities in Harrisburg.
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