EAST PALESTINE — The village’s mayor and fire chief along with the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency provided\a status check of the village at a Thursday afternoon news conference — which likely will be the final one for now.

EMA Director Peggy Clark reported the American Red Cross closed the shelter at the junior / senior high school at noon Thursday. All the people who had stayed there left Wednesday night, with some getting rides from the Salem Salvation Army. The rumor phone line that had been sent up at the EMA was shut down at 6 p.m. Thursday because there weren’t many calls.

“Outside of being tired and worn out, we are going through a very arduous process right now of trying to decide what kind of equipment we have left that can still be used,” fire Chief Keith Drabick said.

He said the fire department’s gear is out of service because of the fire and the contamination from walking through the chemicals at the scene, but a South Carolina department has stepped forward to lend it some gear. He also said he’s been reaching out to manufacturers and trying to decontaminate the trucks.

He also said the fire department is grateful to all the organizations and people who have shown their generosity to them with food and drinks, but asked that they donate to other organizations that might need help, including local food banks. He said the department doesn’t need anything else.

“We love the fact that you guys have really stepped up and cared for us,” Drabick said.

Clark said at least 300 requests had come in so far for home air screenings, so she asked residents and businesses to be patient. Each screening takes a half hour and four teams are working 10 hours per day, accompanied by police.

Mayor Trent Conaway said the drinking water, which is tested every day, is fine. The OEPA and U.S. EPA remain in the village. He praised the county EMA officials, Clark and Deputy Director Brian Rutledge, and Commissioner Tim Weigle, who used his drone to gather footage over the site.

“I don’t know how we would have made it through this tragedy without them,” Conaway said.

Conaway also said he knows Norfolk Southern has a job to do, but he wasn’t happy when the first train ran through East Palestine immediately after the evacuation order was lifted Wednesday evening. Someone asked about the fact that the trucks going to the scene weren’t being washed off after driving through hazardous materials and were going back out into the village, but Conaway said he was assured they were going to get a street sweeper and clean that up.

He also said he has talked with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and county commissioners about holding Norfolk Southern responsible and said, “We will hold their feet to the fire.”

Conaway said that today, the Ohio EPA, county health department and a contractor hired by Norfolk Southern will start checking wells, with a couple in town and then outside town and along the waterway. Bottled water is available at the assistance center.