So, you pull up to the scene of a railroad accident in your Type 6 wildland fire engine with 150 gallons of water……
You probably heard about the train derailment on Monday of oil-carrying railroad cars one mile outside Casselton, North Dakota. The video below, shot by by Darrin Radermacher, shows one of the half dozen explosions heard by residents of the town.
Two trains were involved in the accident. BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth said the train carrying grain derailed first, then knocked several cars of the oil train off adjoining tracks. BNSF said both trains had more than 100 cars.
The railroad crew was able to detach and remove from the scene about 80 cars of the oil train. Firefighters, unable to get near the fire, were allowing it to burn itself out. By nightfall on Monday the flames had diminished and the temperature had dropped to 15 below with a windchill of 32 below.
In my area, the “Type 3” engines were best equipped to handle the response… a selectable Class A and Class B foam tank…. and Forest Service FIREFIGHTERS fully trained and equipped to handle the All-Risk hazards found in our response area.
While I can’t comment on the needs and requirements of some areas, I can say that the “land management agencies” are better served having WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS than “forestry techicians” in their ranks.
My point exactly, Rileymon.
Granted the folks that say that this might be Type 3 territory…..understandable from a BLM and NPS point of view when one is in East Jababie
This case? That is a pro hazmat operation….that is what BNSF , FD, and volley FD’s do best…..LMA fire becomes a support function, at best.
Maybe it’s time for a situational awareness review: I am a wildland fire firefighter; this is not a wildland fire; I am not trained/qualified/equipped for this incident; I’m not going to commit myself or my folks to this mission. Calling the BNSF Firefighting Hazmat folks,,,,,!
Haven’t been on a fiery train derailment in a Type 6 engine, but have been on three in my career on a Type 3 engine…. not too outside the norm in some areas.
It is a very scary proposition. My little town of 1200 has the top quarter of it divided by Hiway 2 and the BNSF railway, the same railway that runs through North Dakota. The BNSF told us that they classify hazardous cargo Class one through three. Least dangerous would be diesel fuel at class one, gasoline would be more dangerous at class two, Bakken Crude is more dangerous still at a class three. One hundred cars zipping through at high speed makes everyone pucker a bit. If anyone is interested, the BNSF has several fire fighting trailers located around the country equipped with foam and large pumps. It is kinda just to make you feel better. There is not really an effective way to fight these fires. In fact, depending on the material burning you may not want to apply water at all as some chemicals react poorly to water, and some others will be washed away to create an even bigger pollution problem.
This document refers to foam trailers located in Barstow, Belen, Winslow, Minneapolis, Galesburg, Newton, Amarillo, Denver, Minot, and Lincoln, Havre, Pasco, Memphis and Richmond. Page 9-12 of this powerpoint presentation describe the trailers as having 550gal. of AR-AFFF, two 10,000gal. water bladders, and photos show them with two gas powered water pumps on a double axel trailer. The powerpoint suggests that BNSF Railroad has contracted firefighters it can fly in on chartered aircraft with a six hour response and gives an overview of other company resources for HAZMAT response resources that includes several breathing air trailers but there’s a lot of their network that is located hundreds of miles from this gear.
I would be yanking out my Jiffy Pop popcorn….set it on my manifold and watch the show…….