Easter Sunday in Globeville, April 4, 1983

"I thought the Russians were coming," said Kathryn Simsik, who lived at 601 East 47th Avenue in Globeville, across the street from Holy Rosary Church. It was not the Russians, but an acrid orange mist rising ominously from the Rio Grande Railroad yards. Simsik said a neighbor called her about 6:00 am to tell her of radio reports about a toxic cloud. Ten minutes later Simsik, her second cousin Nicholas Staresinik and neighbor Marie Mares left as warning sirens wailed. 

The emergency created a reported 2,300 refugees early Easter morning who made their way by RTD buses, private cars and police vehicles to eight Denver area shelters. Simsik and her party joined some 200 other evacuees at Mapleton, at East 64th Avenue and Washington Street. Among them were two young men who brought along their parrot and 75-year-old Angeline Arko, survivor of two heart attacks. Arko barely had time to dress. "I don't have my green pills with me, which I'm supposed to take four times a day."

Red Cross volunteers served 250 sandwiches and tried to connect worried relatives to each other by telephone. Rose Unterfeldner, 66, of 4650 Pearl Street, wondered is the Easter ham she'd left in her crockpot would be overdone and dry when she got home. "Nothing we can do about it, but it's not my idea of Easter. I'm glad I went to church last night."

Skinner Middle School housed 340 evacuees, many who had hastily thrown on clothes and come directly to the school. Some children were still in their pajamas and carried Easter baskets with cellophane grass and chocolate bunnies. 

The Denver Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) was pleased with their response to a plan that had never before been implemented. James Garner, director of the OEP said the Hazardous Materials Response Plan was about 10 years old. It was updated yearly and agencies involved conducted periodic training. When the real thing happened, "the plan worked real well. No doubt training contributed to the success of the operation," said Garner. By 1:00 pm, heavy snow was whipping through Denver and the "all clear" was given.

Residents of the area had a different view. Simsik said, "We were not informed where to go or what to do. In the case of a real disaster, the lack of information could have been a real problem."

According to the Rocky Mountain News story of April 4, 1983, at least 15 chemical spills had led to injuries and evacuations in the Denver area between 1979 and 1983. Since the birth of the RiverNorth neighborhood (RiNo) in 2005, and the expansion of multi-story condos and apartments close to Denver's rail lines, this type of incident is more likely than ever to happen.

Nitric acid is shown leaking from a car in the Rio Grande
(now Union Pacific) rail yards, Sunday
April 4, 1983