ROCKFORD, Ill. (June 20, 2009)--Five tank cars were still burning Saturday morning after a train derailment in Illinois killed one person and forced the evacuation of hundreds of nearby homes.

Canadian National Railway Company spokesman Patrick Waldron says 18 cars, all containing highly flammable ethanol, left the tracks in last night's derailment near Rockford, I..

At one point, 14 of them were on fire.

Waldron says the train crew was able to pull 64 other cars away from the scene.

The Winnebago County coroner said a female who was in a car waiting for the train to pass a crossing died.

The fire chief says three other people ran from the car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and they were severely burned by flaming ethanol.

Officials evacuated residents of about 600 homes within a half-mile of the derailment because of potentially toxic fumes.

Investigators are looking into weather as a possible factor, with reports that it may have hydroplaned in standing water from heavy rain.