GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) - - Health and ecological issues are growing in East Palestine, Ohio.

Poisonous fumes were launched into the air after a train went off the tracks recently. The derailment prompted FOX8 to ask local leaders what chemicals are transferred through the Piedmont Triad.

There are 10s of countless chemicals being transported through Guilford County on roadways and trains.

Greensboro is among the few cities in our state with a HAZMAT team. We talked with a member of that team Tuesday about what the response would look like here.

" The safety performance history of the rail market is substantial," said Bryan Vickery, the special operations assistant chief for the Greensboro Fire Department. "It constantly is great to plan in case these things do happen in our neighborhood and in the city of Greensboro."

Substantial plumes of black smoke filled the sky after 50 hindered train automobiles went up in flames in Ohio recently. Hundreds of individuals were dislodged of their houses. Of the cars and trucks that went off the track, 10 were carrying harmful products. It's a poisonous disaster, which might've occurred anywhere.

" I've been on the risk products team since '99," Vickery said. "We have actually seen a handful of train derailments."

When a train bring tens of thousands of gallons of ethanol derailed in Greensboro, that includes back in 2019. None of the tankers dripped, and nobody got injured.

" We've been really lucky," Vickery said.

Trains moving throughout the state and in Greensboro are bring chemicals. Vickery is trained to handle them. He has access to a website where, by law, companies in North Carolina are needed to submit the types of chemicals they have and the how much of them.

" If the business does not have that chemical that's inside the state of North Carolina, and they might be transporting that item through the state, we'll do a product study of rail and of highway to see what is traveling to the state of North Carolina," he stated.

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Each of the trains or trucks has a placard on all four sides, letting us know what it's carrying.

" What classification it falls into, whether it's a combustible, it's combustible liquid, whether it's a harmful gas," stated Alton Hanes, the director of Davidson County Emergency Services.

Hanes works carefully with Greensboro's HAZMAT group.

" We have a great deal of commerce travel through Davidson County…… eventually in time, we're going to come across mishaps that's going to occur with dangers," Hanes said.

Their job is to ensure if it does occur, the response fasts.

" It doesn't matter what event it is. We're constantly evaluating that occurrence after we return and looking at it and seeing how can we have done much better and prepare for the next one," Vickery stated.

The HAZMAT team likewise works directly with manufacturing business.

If they're going to carry a brand-new chemical, the group will come in and train to learn more about the chemical and determine how to finest respond should an accident take place.

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