Just in case: railroad emergency plan devised

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Local emergency officials have compiled a plan for responding to potential train derailment disasters and the potential release of hazardous materials.

The CSX rail line that passes through Peachtree City, Tyrone and part of unincorporated Fayette County has few trouble spots such as curves and hills, according to Peachtree City Acting Fire Chief Stony Lohr. The cars carrying those materials are also built tough, he added.

But those trains travel through Fayette County at speeds up to 55 mph, carrying 21 different types of hazardous materials.

That's why the Local Emergency Planning Committee, a group of emergency officials and local industries, decided in January to begin compiling a train derailment response plan, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services, who serves as chairman of the LEPC.

"It's one of the best plans, I think, in the state," Nelms said. "It's very, very detailed."

Though CSX carries small amounts of hazardous materials through Fayette compared to other counties in the metro Atlanta area, emergency crews still need to know how to respond in case a derailment occurs, Lohr said.

"We don't want to make anyone hysterical, but if you ever do have a train derailment, they're usually terribly long in duration and it's quite a big event," Nelms said.

The plan lists each type of hazardous material that's transported through Fayette County by CSX, Lohr said. Although the plan details general response techniques, it also details special techniques required for the "top six" hazardous materials on that list.

"It provides a list of detailed information that, once we identify the material, will tell us what the proper response should be," Lohr said. "So we won't have to spend two hours researching the product involved, we can just run down the list and find it."

That will let officials decide if an evacuation is needed, Nelms said. With the county's new "First Call" phone system, computers can be programmed to call individual residences to warn residents to stay indoors or to evacuate if necessary.

Lohr said the plan addresses the possibility of using the First Call system.

The plan also lists a variety of agencies that can help provide resources such as dump trucks and bulldozers, which would be needed to help contain a chemical spill, Lohr said.

"We'll need bucket loaders and bulldozers for banking and damming the spill to limit where it goes," Lohr said. "You need to know where to get that kind of stuff. ... If you don't know how to get a hold of them, you could be in a hurt."

Railroad emergency response crews are also listed in the plan so they can be notified as quickly as possible. CSX has reviewed the plan and help fine-tune it, Lohr added.

In the coming weeks, the plan will be tweaked down to its final version, Lohr added.

Approximately 9,444 hazardous materials were shipped on the local CSX rail last year, compared to 67,000 such shipments on a line that goes through Clayton and Henry counties, Nelms said.

"We have a much lighter load of hazardous material commodities than other tracks, which is good," Lohr said.

The majority of the 15.3-mile track comes through Peachtree City before it veers off into Coweta County on the southern end, Lohr said. To the north, the track extends into Fulton County, he added.

Tyrone's portion of the rail is 3.97 miles long while the county's portion is 3.86 miles long, Lohr said. The entire track has been "walked" by emergency personnel so notes could be made of potential trouble spots, the chief added.

Lohr said the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates some rail crashes, has come down on emergency officials in recent years for failing to prepare for rail disasters.

First responder emergency crews will being training on the plan in January, Nelms added.

Nelms commended Lohr and the LEPC for their work on making the plan a reality. Lohr performed the lion's share of the work to compile the plan with assistance from a special committee of law enforcement officials, emergency officials and local citizens.

"Chief Lohr took the lead on this and did an excellent job with it," Nelms said.

There have been three simple derailments reported by CSX in the past three or four years where cars have simply come off the track though no emergency response was required, Lohr said. A four-car derailment in December of last year caused some grains to spill, but no hazardous materials were released, Lohr said.

One car that housed railroad employees caught fire once and Peachtree City firefighters doused the flames when the car met them near Dividend Drive, Lohr said.

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