(The following story by Pamela Hickman appeared on the Beauregard Daily News website on April 23, 2009. Steve Ezell is a member of BLET Division 612 in Nederland, Texas.)
DeRIDDER, La. — Members of the DeRidder and Rosepine Fire Departments recently participated in a special training session surrounding train safety.
Steve Ezell, a Locomotive Engineer for the Kansas City Southern (KCS) Railroad company, met with the local firefighters earlier this month to provide them with valuable safety training on railroads and railroad crossings.
Because Beauregard Parish has a number of marked but unguarded railroad crossings, Ezell meets with the firefighters every year to deliver the most up-to-date information, but for this year’s meeting he was able to bring a special hands-on approach.
Ezell provided the fire department with a KCS locomotive that was positioned on a small section of little-used track between City Hall and the Wooten Theatre, and then allowed the firefighters to climb aboard and receive an in-depth tour of the engine.
Such training is vital to the safety of the firefighters given that, unlike the locomotives of the past, the train engines currently being used are moved by electric motors.
“The diesel engine that you hear running is generating the electricity for the motors,” explained the DeRidder fire department’s training and administrative officer, Eric Stracener. “and there are six motors on each locomotive.”
With so much electricity, a fire onboard could create a very dangerous situation for the firefighters and their water hoses, and that is why Ezell felt the need for such a meeting.
Over the course of the session, the firefighters received instruction in exactly where the electrical systems shut downs are located on an engine, and also how to shut down a locomotive from the outside.
Stracener said that firefighters appreciated this special training approach, and that the session was very positive.
“I think it was an excellent training experience,” he said. “We thank Steve and KCS for making it possible.”