Mulvane, Kansas - A freight train carrying hazardous materials was burning Thursday after it hit a backhoe parked on the tracks by vandals and derailed, authorities said.

More than 100 residents of the rurals area south of Wichita were evacuated as thick black smoke rose from the blaze.

Railroad spokesperson Steve Forsberg said the cargo included carbon dioxide, compressed nitrogen, white asbestos and some perfume projucts.

The fire chief said he did not believe there had been a chemical spill, but firefighters held off using water because they did not know what chemicals might be involved.  

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 31 2001)