MONUMENT, COLO. -- Officials said a Burlington Northern train leaking hydrochloric acid near a residential neighborhood has been contained.
It happened at intersection of Wagon Gap Trail and Elk Valley Trail.
Officials said the train was heading north around 1:30 a.m. when another train that was heading south noticed a vapor cloud coming from the Burlington train.
Authorities said the compartment of the train carrying between 25,000 and 30,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid has been moved north.
Sgt. Mike Schalley said a special crew from Fort Worth, Texas was being flown in to help with the offload of the hydrochloric acid from the train.
Authorities told residents to be prepared to evacuate for up to 48 hours, that has since been lifted and only 12 homes remain evacuated late Wednesday night.
All Lewis Palmer School District 38 schools are closed as well as Monument Academy Charter school and will re-open and return to their normal schedule Thursday.
In addition to the schools being closed, Monument Municipal Court is also closed. Anyone scheduled to appear in court can either appear April 27 or May 18 at 5:30 p.m.
It's been a long day for homeowners living near the hydrochloric acid leak. Reverse 911 calls were sent out around 5 a.m. alerting homeowners of a mandatory evacuation for the area.
"It hit me quite quickly and it was like a headache, eyeache and that sort of thing. Nothing major, just a really bad odor," Doreen Bisland, an evacuee, said.
The 48-hour evacuations have been lifted and the Red Cross shelter set up at the Grace Best Elementary School has been torn down.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said they have no plans for further evacuations but the next few hours are critical.
HAZMAT teams are on the scene and in the middle of transferring hydrochloric acid from the old train car to a new one.
"A change in weather, equipment issues, it's very critical time when you transfer chemicals. So there is a possibility of something happening," Sgt. Mike Schaller with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said.
Wednesday's unexpected acid leak and evacuations have homeowners reflecting on life.
Andy Theisman's children live in Southern California and he couldn't stop thinking about them.
"It's scary, what if they had an earthquake, what would they do? It's something to think about," Theisman, an evacuee, said.
Ashley Zarach, Alia Willson and Craig Coffey contributed to this story
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