(The following story by Sonja Elmquist appeared on the News-Record website on September 19.)
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Emergency responders from Guilford and surrounding counties honed their skills on responding to emergencies involving trains at the Norfolk Southern Greensboro facility Thursday.
The event was part of the railroad company’s annual “Whistle Stop” tour, which will end today in Roanoke, Va.
Nine train cars were used for classes on different characteristics of and techniques to deal with emergencies involving trains.
“If you don’t go through this, you’ll never be prepared for the real thing when it happens,” said Alan Perdue, emergency services director for Guilford County.
Such practice is crucial “when you’ve got one of these laying on its side in the middle of the night,” Perdue said.
Mike Gettinger, a trainer who works for a hazardous materials clean-up contractor called U.S. Environmental Services, taught a class in the train’s passenger car on industrial fire fighting.
Fires involving trains often include similar features to industrial fires, Gettinger said.
More hands-on classes took place inside — and on top of — tanker cars, which can leak hazardous chemicals if they are involved in an accident, trainers said.
“This gives the firefighters a real good understanding of what’s inside, under that surface, and what causes the leaks,” Gettinger said.
Gene Davis, a trainer with chemicals manufacturer BASF, gave training on different types of domes and valves that can be found atop tanker cars. One modified tanker car had eight of the most common types of domes, including one that can be made to leak water in a way that simulates a high-pressure chemical leak.
Capt. Joel Wood, a member of the Greensboro Fire Department’s hazardous materials team, said some of the benefit of Thursday’s training was to learn what they can’t do.
To keep people nearby — and themselves — safe, firefighters sometimes have to recognize which situations are too dangerous for anyone except specialists.
Some of those specialists attended the training to demonstrate the service and equipment they can bring to rail emergencies.
Kent Farquhar calls his co-workers in Fort Worth, Texas-based Specialized Response Solutions “the fire department SWAT team” because of the special skills and equipment they can bring to emergency situations.
The company designed a trailer created to fight fires on trains.
The trailer carries a pair of 10,000-gallon water tanks and 550 gallons of foam used to put out chemical fires — such as ethanol fires — where water can’t be used.
Wood of the Greensboro Fire Department said such situations in Greensboro are rare. “The problems you have, short of a derailment, are rare,” Wood said. “We’re lucky not to have a lot of problems on the rail.”