Firehouse.com

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Sep. 25--Several times per week, a Norfolk Southern train carrying 80 cars or so of flammable ethanol snakes its way through Toledo on its way from refineries west of Chicago to a gasoline-blending terminal in New Jersey.

If that train derailed, as it did with fiery results on a bridge outside Pittsburgh nearly four years ago, or if any other hazardous-materials shipments through northwest Ohio sprang a leak or was in an accident, would area emergency responders know what to do?

Briefing firefighters about how hazardous materials travel by rail, and familiarizing them with the various valves and safety devices on tank cars that handle the majority of that cargo, were key goals of a hazardous-materials safety exhibition staged Thursday in Toledo by Norfolk Southern.

"It's fantastic -- you can't beat the training being offered here," Toledo fire Lt. Ron Kay, a member of the department's hazardous-materials team at Station 7, said after a seminar. "The instructors are very knowledgeable. It's just tremendous."

More than 150 people -- many of them firefighters or haz-mat technicians, but also others involved in hazardous-materials transportation -- attended part of the Norfolk Southern TRANSCAER Whistle Stop tour at the railroad's depot off Emerald Avenue.

Toledo fire Battalion Chief Thomas Jaksetic said that number included 32 Toledo firefighters from fire stations across the city who took part throughout the day in haz-mat information and tours of modified tank cars featuring a variety of safety and loading appliances.

"In the emergency-response business, just one vital piece of information can make the difference between a good outcome and a not-so-good outcome," Chief Jaksetic said. The presentation, he said, contained "very valuable and useful information."

"We don't get a lot of opportunities to see this," said Dean Steele, a firefighter-paramedic from Napoleon who is on the Henry County haz-mat team and attended the Toledo program.

Ileen Groves, a rail-management executive with Owens Corning, said while the program was "obviously geared toward first responders," its information was valuable to her, too, as an employee of a company whose factories receive hazardous-materials shipments.

People generally hear about haz-mat transport "only when something goes wrong," but safety awareness and vigilance ensures that when shipments "arrive at our facilities, we have maximum trust that our employees will be safe," she said.

Norfolk Southern reported that among about 384,000 hazardous-materials shipments it handled during 2008, there were 103 in which some sort of release occurred during transport, including five that were involved in rail accidents. Most involved a gallon or less of material, said David Schoendorder, the railroad's manager of hazardous materials.

The incidents typically resulted from leaks or human error, he said.

While 68 percent of hazardous rail cargoes travel in tank cars, that accounts for only about half of all tank-car shipments, he noted. Tank cars also are used for nonhazardous liquid or semiliquid freight like corn syrup, industrial beef tallow, and clay slurry.

Rudy Husband, a Norfolk Southern spokesman, said Norfolk Southern has operated the whistle-stop haz-mat exhibit for 10 years, but this was its first visit to Toledo. It was in Cleveland Wednesday and is scheduled for a Columbus stop today.

"It gives us an opportunity to meet the people who are looking out for our interests, and get them introduced to rail equipment and rail operations in a favorable environment," Mr. Husband said.

Besides staging the exhibit, Norfolk Southern donated to the Toledo Fire Department two $1,600 scholarships to attend the Emergency Response Training Center at the Association of American Railroads test center in Pueblo, Colo. Chief Jaksetic took part in a program at the Pueblo site in June and called it very enlightening.

The special train's tank-car exhibits were provided by BASF Corp. and DuPont, two major chemical manufacturers, and by GATX Corp., a leading tank-car manufacturer and leasing firm. Several local firms that specialize in various aspects of hazardous materials handling or emergency response also had booths.

Contact David Patch at:

dpatch@theblade.com

or 419-724-6094.