EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — When the EPA administrator visited East Palestine the first time, he went inside a home and watched an air test. The home owner says she just wants to come home, but there are still some hurdles to clear before she feels comfortable in doing do.
Krissy Ferguson invited First News reporter/anchor Dave Sess into her home to get a sense of the conditions. It’s quiet, dark, and there’s definitely something in the air.
“It never smelled like this before, and I’ve lived here all my life,” she said.
The home was built in the 1930s. Its family run started with Ferguson’s great-grandmother. The home was eventually moved over a creek, which runs through town, to it’s present location on East Rebecca Street.
When the train derailed, Ferguson and five other family members left.
“Nobody wants to leave. All my memories: Of being a child, my daughter, my father passed away in this home. It’s been our home,” Ferguson said.
She still takes care of her mother, who’s about to turn 82.
Ferguson has been told to get rid off all the furniture and to not keep anything with fabric. But she’s waiting for more air, soil and water tests to make her feel more comfortable about returning.
“I want to know that I’m safe to live in this home again. And if I’m not, I need my home replaced,” she said.
Ferguson said she was chosen for an air test with the EPA administrator, because she would ask questions every day at the command center. She invited Congressman Bill Johnson and Senator Sherrod Brown that morning when she saw them on the street.
The air test she got conflicts with another air test’s result, and it’s left her confused about whom to believe. She wonders if the situation is getting better.
“These are hard to figure out how to fix it. But it’s nobody’s taking the initiative to fix it, and that’s very unsettling,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson has a place to live for the next six months, paid for by Norfolk Southern.
She wonders what’s next.
She wants the governor, the EPA or even the railroad CEO to stay in her house and see if they could take it.
