SHEFFIELD — The Sheffield Fire Department responded to a train derailment this morning in the Intermodal Yard, just west of the Ford plant in Sheffield Village.

The train was on a main line and was traveling between Bellevue, Ohio, and Buffalo, according to Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern public relations director.

The derailment, which involved about 28 rail cars, occurred shortly after 7 a.m., according to the Fire Department. The eastbound trail derailed between Harris and Abbe roads in Sheffield.

A small propane leak occurred following the accident, but firefighters quickly had that under control.

According to firefighters, there were no hazardous materials involved in the derailment and no one was injured.

Husband said there were two people on board the train, an engineer and a conductor, who were both in the locomotive. Husband said many of the rail cars were empty and others were hauling sand.

Husband said he doesn’t have any figures for the monetary loss due to the derailment. He also doesn’t know how long the rail line will be closed. He said there’s another route that goes through Cleveland that can be utilized.

“Obviously we prefer to have our most direct line open,” he said, but he didn’t think the changed route would pose any major problems.

The Fire Department was on scene for about two hours before turning the site over to railroad officials, who continue to monitor cleanup.

The Sheffield Fire Department plans to continue to monitor the site during cleanup efforts.

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — Police cruisers blocked off a park this morning near the home of a man charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old girl who was found bound and gagged in the basement. The whereabouts of her mother, brother and another woman remained a mystery.

Ten miles from home, Sarah Maynard was found alive on Sunday, four days after disappearing with her family. The man who lived in the house in this central Ohio city where she was found was arrested the same day, and authorities hope he will provide information leading to the others, although it was unclear whether he knew either of the missing women, Knox County Sheriff David Barber said.

“We were hopeful that we would find more than one” of the missing people in Hoffman’s house, Barber said. “Our information was definite that it was most likely that Sarah was going to be in that house.”

Barber did not say what led investigators to the two-story tan-sided house. Matthew J. Hoffman, 30, was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Barber said more charges are expected against Hoffman, who lives at the home about 40 miles north of Columbus.

Authorities have said an “unusual” amount of blood was found at the home where Sarah lived with her 10-year-old brother, Kody, and her mother, 32-year-old Tina Herrmann, and they were testing it Monday.

On Monday morning, Mount Vernon police cruisers blocked off Foundation Park, a public park with a lake a few blocks from Hoffman’s home, because an officer patrolling overnight had found items potentially related to the investigation, police Capt. George Hartz said. He would not say what was found, but said the park would remain closed until police had determined whether it should considered a crime scene.

Neighbors had said Hoffman frequented the park, which was once a gravel quarry and now has ponds where people fish. It was difficult Monday to see any police activity through the thick trees bordering the park.

Barber was scheduled to brief reporters Monday afternoon. His office said no updated information would be released until that time.

Hoffman was being held in the county jail, where personnel would not comment on whether he had an attorney. A bond hearing was expected to be held Monday.

Barber said the girl was hospitalized in good condition, but he would give no details.

Hermann, her children, and Herrmann’s 41-year-old friend, Stephanie Sprang, disappeared Wednesday from Herrmann’s home in nearby Howard. Barber said DNA testing on blood found in that house was expected to begin Monday.

Authorities believe the girl had been “under the control” of Hoffman since Wednesday, when she and her brother last attended school, the sheriff said. He did not know if Hoffman was connected to either Herrmann or Sprang, but said he is not the ex-boyfriend of either woman.

“At this time, whether he’s connected to the family or whether he connected himself to the family … a lot of that remains to be seen as the investigation continues,” Barber said.

Authorities had talked to the girl but would not release any details because the investigation is ongoing, Barber said.

Authorities blocked off about a half block on either side of the home as they investigated early Sunday afternoon, keeping people from entering or leaving about a half dozen homes. But by late Sunday afternoon, the only sign of investigative activity was red and white evidence tape sealing the front door of the home.

The house with green shutters and front door and a large television antenna on the roof sits in a lower-middle-income neighborhood with two bars within a block. Holly grows through the weathered slats of the porch. A sheet covered one window, and blinds were pulled down on the rest.

Dawna Davis, 35, who lives next door to Hoffman, said she told her children to stay indoors when he was out. She said he moved in alone about a year ago and that a girlfriend lived with him temporarily with her son until about a month ago.

“He would sit and listen to us up in a tree. He had a hammock and he would sit there and listen to us,” she said. “He was just different. He was very different.”

Davis said Hoffman did tree trimming work and had built a fire Wednesday night in his backyard, where there was a mound of ashes Sunday with tree parts on it. She said he walked to Foundation Park almost every day and was a “nature person” who collected leaves.

Attempts to reach relatives of Hoffman and of Sarah were unsuccessful Sunday.

Herrmann was reported missing Wednesday when she did not show up for work at a local Dairy Queen. Barber has said blood indicating an injury had been found in her home, where Sprang’s vehicle was in the driveway.

Herrmann’s pickup truck had been found Thursday night near the Kenyon College campus, leading to a lockdown at the school.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — A house fire yesterday in North Ridgeville left two family cats dead.

According to the Fire Department, firefighters were called just after 11 a.m. yesterday to the home of Doug and Linda Donelon, 7484 Dyke Ave.

Crews arrived to find the first floor of the two-story home filled with smoke. Firefighters entered the home through the garage, found the kitchen on fire and quickly extinguished it.

The home’s residents were out of the home, but a search of the home turned up two cats that had been overcome by heat and smoke.

The Fire Department estimated the home’s damage as $30,000 to its structure and $20,000 to its contents. The fire was confined to the kitchen with some smoke damage throughout the house.

The fire remains under investigation by the department’s Fire Prevention/Investigation Division.