Emergency Management Director attends training on crude oil railroad emergencies


The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Administration funded a training course in Pueblo, CO June 15-17 to provide training for emergency responders to prepare for possible scenarios in which railroad cars containing crude oil are derailed and/or spilled. Allamakee County Emergency Management Director Chris Dahlstrom and Postville firefighter Ben Heitland attended the training and will share their knowledge with other area firefighters and first responders in upcoming training sessions. Photo courtesy of Chris Dahlstrom.

by Bob Beach

Allamakee County Emergency Management Director Chris Dahlstrom and Postville firefighter Ben Heitland attended a three-day, 24-hour course in Pueblo, CO June 15-17 to learn how to respond to a railroad emergency involving crude oil. With over 60% of the course involving field exercises, the program covered the history of crude oil, chemical and physical properties of the different crude oil products transported, basic site and damage assessment and railroad tank car design and construction.
Other subjects covered included tactical product control methods, including the application of firefighting foam agents, water and spill control procedures, planning for crude oil incidents and environmental impacts. Practical training included demonstrations of crude oil fires, boil overs and foam applications as applied to crude oil incidents by rail and advanced firefighting techniques.
“The class was very intense with classroom learning on the first day and general practical on day two to include a demonstration of what happens when crude oil boils over,” Dahlstrom said.  “It  also covered important information about dike and damming of product. The last day consisted of four scenarios of train derailment with material spill and ignition.”
The scenarios and demonstrations started out with a single-car involvement and ended with a 19-car derailment. “We had a total of about 40 people in the class and different people took turns with incident command, foam team, and cooling lines,” Dahlstrom explained. “We also talked a lot about evacuation.”
Dahlstrom said he will be sharing the knowledge gained from this training with area fire departments in upcoming training exercises tentatively scheduled for August and September of this year. He also said that this year’s emergency disaster drill scheduled for October will involve a train car derailment.
Dahlstrom added that Allamakee County has a CODE RED system where a call will be made to area households in cases of evacuation or the need to take shelter in established locations. All landlines in the county are automatically registered and residents can register their own cell phones on the Allamakee County website. In the event of an evacuation, residents will be advised of the situation and the need to evacuate and where to seek shelter. Allamakee County Emergency Management and the American Red Cross have predetermined shelters set up in each of the County’s communities, Dahlstrom said.
“One of the most important things is gaining a good relationship with the railroad and immediate notification,” Dahlstrom said. “I have reached out to Canadian Pacific and they have been very good to work with. They will be providing additional training for our emergency responders in September  and will be assisting with a full-scale exercise in October.”
Dahlstrom said that the most important thing to remember is that all of the fire departments in the County are trained to deal with hazardous materials and will follow the same guidelines for any kind of emergency involving hazardous materials, whether it involves a train car, semi trailer or a spill.