EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that it will be holding a two-day investigative hearing in East Palestine.

The hearing will be on the investigation into the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine on Feb. 3.

The hearing is scheduled for June 22-23 at East Palestine High School. Thursday’s hearing will go from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday’s hearing will go from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The hearings are open to the public and will be live-streamed on the NTSB YouTube channel.

A hearing webpage has been developed for the event.

The hearing will focus on hazard communications and emergency responder preparedness for the initial emergency response; the circumstances that led to the decision to vent and burn five rail tank cars carrying vinyl chloride; freight car bearing failure modes and wayside detection systems; and tank car derailment damage, crashworthiness and hazardous materials package information.

Sworn testimony from witnesses will part of the NTSB investigative hearings.

While the investigative hearing is open to the public, only NTSB board members, investigators, scheduled witnesses and parties to the hearing are allowed to participate. The public is invited to observe the hearing.

“The communities most affected by this tragedy deserve as much insight as possible into our investigation, which is why we’re holding an investigative hearing in East Palestine,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “While we unfortunately cannot change what happened that day, our entire agency is committed to carrying out our mission, which doesn’t end when we get to the bottom of what happened and why it happened—we’ll also work vigorously to prevent it from ever happening again.”

There will be a community meeting prior to the hearings on Wednesday, June 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the East Palestine High School with NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

The derailment in East Palestine caused mandatory evacuations for residents prior to the subsequent release of chemicals from the burning train cars due to the threat of an explosion. Questions remain as to the long-term environmental impact as a result of the release.

In its latest report, the NTSB reported that testing found anomalies with the function of some pressure relief devices (PRDs) removed from some of the derailed tank cars.

NTSB is conducting a safety investigation to determine the probable cause of the derailment and issue any safety recommendations, if necessary, to prevent future derailments. The NTSB can also issue urgent recommendations at any point during the investigation.

Patty Coller contributed to this report.