BEDFORD — About 5 a.m. Wednesday the sound of a distant blast awoke Philip Mack, a counselor at the KnightLights Christian youth camp in Hyndman.

“I heard the explosion,” Mack said Thursday. “I was like, ‘Oh,’ and I went back to sleep.”

Barely an hour passed before a state trooper knocked on the camp door, rousting the counselors and their teenage wards and asking them to leave the area. Dozens of train cars had derailed nearby, and a blazing propane fire threatened the town.

On Thursday morning — more than 24 hours after the crash — CSX representatives said the fires were still burning, although they were less powerful than the day before. Officials said they expected the flames to be extinguished by Thursday evening.

At least a handful of the 32 derailed cars contained dangerous substances, including molten sulfur. The cause of the derailment remains unclear.

Since early Wednesday, the campers and the youth ministry’s leaders have been among the roughly 1,000 displaced people in Bedford County — refugees kept from their homes as CSX officials and responders work to reopen the evacuated town.

Scattered at hotels from western Maryland to Bedford, the evacuees remained far from home late Thursday, with roads closed miles from their houses. CSX representatives said there was no timetable for their return as of Thursday afternoon, although workers had begun removing unaffected train cars as the fire died down.

Those left stranded outside Hyndman have made the most of their time; some complained of CSX’s mistakes while others praised the company’s willingness to help. The company has assisted with two outreach centers, one in Bedford and another near the Maryland state line.

At the Travelodge just north of Bedford Borough, owner Pravin Wankawala took a call from a prospective guest, asking “CSX?” as he took notes. Wankawala said he already had 17 rooms filled with Hyndman evacuees, and more were expected by Thursday evening.

No one had yet indicated whether they would be home by this evening, he said.

The aftermath revealed the logistical complexity of even a small-town evacuation. Miles of roads remained closed in Bedford and Somerset counties, while concerned residents worried about needed medicines and the fate of pets they had left behind.

CSX officials said they had worked with residents to secure pets and medications from closed-off houses.

“Several dozen family pets have been reunited with their families through this effort,” spokesman Rob Doolittle said in a written statement.

Once the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration give approval, Doolittle said hundreds of CSX workers and contractors would descend on the town to clear the tracks and allow residents to return.

State police have kept up patrols of the town to ensure homes and businesses are safe, Gov. Tom Wolf said in a news release. Meanwhile, state officials were monitoring the air and water to ensure chemicals didn’t create a health hazard.

The sheer scale of the response has spurred its own logistical headaches.

Firefighters and ambulance workers remained on standby for long shifts around the town as colleagues elsewhere organized donation drives on their behalf. The Pinecroft Volunteer Fire Company announced an effort Thursday afternoon to collect water and Gatorade for frontline responders “in desperate need.”

North of the scene, American Red Cross workers teamed up with CSX employees and church representatives at the Bedford United Methodist Church. The church — empty Thursday afternoon save for boxes of supplies and piles of Gatorade bottles — had hosted a steady stream of evacuees that morning, officials said.

For some of those still adrift outside Hyndman, a positive attitude went a long way.

“We set the tone for these guys,” said Nathan Elliott, codirector of the KnightLights, as his fellow counselors and teenage guests ate at Hoss’s Steak & Seahouse on the CSX account. “If we’re saying ‘Oh no, it’s so terrible,’ they will too.”

Mirror Staff Writer Ryan Brown is at 946-7457.