CHICAGO — Three years ago, state and local officials praised the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District for its response to a truck-train crash that killed 11 people aboard an Amtrak Superliner, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The entire community was commended for opening its arms–and closets, pantries and pocketbooks–to more than 100 people taken to hospitals or hotels and their families.
So on Wednesday, residents and village officials were stung by a National Transportation Safety Board report that criticized the department’s handling of the accident.
The board concluded that the trucker ignored warning lights and bells and drove around lowered crossing gates and was therefore solely responsible for the crash. But it also said the Fire Protection District was not prepared to respond effectively to a passenger train accident like the one on March 15, 1999, that involved a significant diesel fuel fire.
The rescue effort was hampered by the lack of a nearby water supply, the safety board said. But Bourbonnais fire officials compounded the situation by being slow to request a chemical foam truck to help douse the blaze, the board said.
Safety board chairman Marion Blakey said it was fortunate that the interior materials aboard the Amtrak Superliner were largely non-flammable and did not generate excessive smoke.
“We had trouble extinguishing the fire,” fire chief Ed St. Louis, who was a captain in 1999, acknowledged Wednesday. “It was a stubborn, difficult fire to get to.”
But St. Louis said he does not believe the fire district could have done anything that would have saved more lives.
Residents of the small village about 50 miles south of Chicago said they continue to be proud of their emergency workers and the response of the community.
“I still am totally thrilled with the work of our fire department,” said Shelly Sparrow, a surgical nurse at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee who worked the night of the accident. “All of our emergency systems responded beautifully.”
Rev. Luther Watson, a staff pastor at College Church of the Nazarene in Bourbonnais, said the outpouring of support after the crash helped foster a sense of togetherness still seen today. The night of the accident, dozens of people helped the Red Cross set up a shelter at a local school, with dozens more donating clothing, food and money for the victims and emergency workers.
Some crash victims continued relationships with Bourbonnais residents, and a one-year memorial service attracted more than 2,000 people, Watson said.
“This was, I think, the fire department’s first experience ever to face a tragedy of this size, of this momentum,” said Watson, who began counseling victims that night. “From my standpoint, I really thought the whole operation jelled together.”
At 9:47 p.m. on March 15, 1999, when most of the district’s part- and full-time firefighters were away from the only fire station, an Amtrak train traveling from Chicago struck a semi-trailer truck driven by John Stokes of Manteno at a railroad crossing. The derailing and tremendous fire, stoked by 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, burned for at least two hours, officials said.
Fire Lt. Mileen Joines, who worked as an engineer that night, said that during the 24 minutes it took to attach a hose into a hydrant a half-mile away, water on the firetrucks was used to fight the blaze and the trucks never ran out of water.
More important for putting out the fire was chemical foam, which has the consistency of dishwashing soap and turns into suds when pumped to a fire.
At 10:22 p.m., or 23 minutes after the first units arrived on the scene, Bourbonnais officials requested more foam. But there was not enough available nearby, and it was not until 10:40 p.m. that Bourbonnais officials requested a chemical foam truck from refineries south of Joliet, an hour’s drive from the scene, safety board officials said.
By the time the truck arrived at 11:45 p.m., the fire had consumed the midsection of the sleeper car, where 11 people were later found dead, according to the board’s report.
Investigators said the Bourbonnais firefighters, as well as rescue teams from 30 neighboring communities, were unfamiliar with passenger railroad equipment–particularly regarding how to access damaged or derailed coach cars and rapidly extricate passengers.
“This type of training is not costly to do,” said safety board spokesman Terry Williams.
St. Louis said the crash, which thrust the department of about 42 firefighters into the national spotlight, has focused the department even more intently on training.
“I still maintain, and will always maintain, that everybody did a great job.”