DAYTON — Dayton firefighters and members of the Dayton Regional Hazmat team took part in a training that teaches first responders how to handle train derailments.
Rail safety has been a major focus in Ohio for the last few years.
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In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern Train went off the track in East Palestine, spilling hazardous material.
Less than a month later, in Springfield, another Norfolk Southern Train went off the tracks, carrying toxic material.
None of the toxic material was in the 28 cars that had gone off the tracks.
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The training mimicked an actual train derailment that had hazardous material on board, allowing the first responders to address the situation.
“This is priceless training for us. It really is,” said Hazmat Coordinator Gary Rettig.
Rettig said that without training like this, crews would ‘only interact with this equipment in a real emergency.’
“We get the opportunity to climb on those, to be around the valve fittings, should there be a train derailment, and we have to respond and work on that, we know exactly what we do to build that muscle memory,” said Rettig.
Norfolk Southern takes its training railcar through 22 states, customizing the training to what each community needs.
Jon Simpson with Norfolk Southern facilitates the training, said that they prepare for ‘that bad day.’
It’s as much about establishing relationships and those connections and having those discussions about when that rare bad day happens, how we’re going to work together and interface, and what the US as hazmat managers are going to be able to do to support those responders," said Simpson.
The training includes some classroom time, studying different incidents. The train goes everywhere that they go.
“It’s a big deal, it really is,” said Rettig.
The training is there to make sure everyone knows what to do when an emergency happens.
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