Fort Worth police officers deliver water to Ohio town dealing with devastating train derailment
FORT WORTH, Texas - Two Fort Worth police officers spent the weekend driving a truck filled with pallets of water to a town affected by the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Officers Buddy Calzada and Jimmy Pollzani took a 1,200-mile trip to Salem, Ohio, which is about 20 miles away from the crash site.
"All the water has been delivered. It's been a big process. It's been a great process," said Officer Calzada on Monday.
The officers hand-delivered 40,000 bottles of water to the police department in Salem.
"We pulled in at 11:30 last night, and we pulled in at 11:30 last night. We had teams waiting on us," Officer Calzada said.
Those teams included Salem police officers.
The plan was hatched last Thursday when Fort Worth PD reached out to law enforcement in Ohio to see how they could help.
Water was the number one need.
With assistance from Fort Worth Metro they got in motion.
"They had a partner called Midwest Food Bank, and Midwest Food Bank gave us the green light in saying how much water you can take will give it to you," said Calzada.
They were able to fit 13 pallets of water into a Fort Worth PD truck used for special events and hit the road.
The bottles of water equate to about 2,300 gallons of water.
"What we took down there was huge. It's going to last them about a day and a half," said Calzada.
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The head of the EPA visited the small town last week to get a first-hand look at the cleanup.
The EPA says water and air samples show no health risk to residents, but folks are skeptical.
OHIO, UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 17: Officials continue to conduct operation and inspect the area after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, United States on February 17, 2023. The train derailment happened on Feb. 3 in which 38 cars derailed,
Many say they've gotten sick since returning home and claim the rail company, Norfolk Southern, isn't being thorough enough as it decontaminates the town.
Fort Worth officers talked to a resident who was grateful for the bottled water.
"I thought well maybe someone is bringing a pickup truck full of water and here are these police officers bringing water thank you very much really appreciate it," said Ohio resident Ted Evans.
"We realized that there was a community hurting and as officers, you just want to find something that you can do. You want to be able to meet that need. And that's exactly what took place," said Calzada.
The Fort Worth officers are now headed back to Texas.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says he's requesting experts from the CDC to come here to help.
We are told the White House will grant that request.