Anxious residents are still demanding answers 12 days after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the small Ohio town of East Palestine.
"It's pretty dramatic right now," said James Figley, who lives just blocks from the derailment site. "The whole town's in an uproar."
Mr Figley, a 63-year-old graphic designer, was sitting on his sofa on the night of 3 February when he heard the horrifying sound of metal screeching to a halt. He and his wife got in the car to investigate, and discovered a hellish scene.
"There were a series of explosions, continuing, and the smell was getting to be horrendous," Mr Figley said.
"If you ever burn plastic in your backyard, and [get] that black smoke? That was it," he said. "It was black, just black. You could tell it was a chemical smell. Burning your eyes. It could get really bad if you were downwind."
Fires sprung up from the accident, panicking residents who lived just blocks away.
Days later, a toxic pillar of smoke towered over the town, as officials burned off a dangerous chemical known as vinyl chloride before it could explode.
Over the next few days, dead fish appeared in the creeks - thousands of them, officials later confirmed. People nearby told local media that their chickens died suddenly, their foxes panicked, and their pets fell ill. Residents complained of headaches, burning eyes and sore throats.
Governor Mike DeWine said on Wednesday that while air quality in the town was safe, residents near the site of the toxic spill should drink bottled water as a precaution. State and federal officials have assured residents they were removing contaminated soil from the site, and the air and municipal water quality was now normal.
The disconnect between what some residents have reported, and the assurances that officials continue to issue, has led to confusion and fear in East Palestine. Meanwhile, a mixture of environmental and health experts have questioned whether the site is truly safe, and social media sleuths have claimed that officials are not telling residents the whole story, despite government officials' frequent updates and ire at the railroad company.
Some locals have welcomed the extra scrutiny.
"There's way too much we don't know," Mr Figley said.