Training & CAER Sharpen
Cambridge Fire Dept. Skills
Guilford Rail's Safety and Training department recently assisted the Cambridge Fire Department during their week-long hazardous materials (hazmat) training by bringing in a training tank car and giving instruction in both the classroom and the field.
"During these exercises we help local departments coordinate an emergency action plan in the unlikely event of a hazmat leak," said John Law, Guilford Rail System Executive Director, Safety and Training "We conduct similar hazmat training ourselves system-wide."
For an exercise conducted in Cambridge, MA, Guilford Rail was able to utilize a DuPont Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) training car and instructors.
Each CAER tank car is a 33M USG DOT 112 car with seven domes and 10 bottom outlets and fittings commonly found on North American tank cars. Since 1989 DuPont has made these cars available to communities at no cost.
In the training's initial stage, Law, along with vendors and professors from both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave classroom instruction.
"John goes over a train car's braking, the alignment of a switch and how to ensure that a string of cars is not going to move," said Capt. Stephen Persson, Training Officer, Cambridge Fire Department.
While in the classroom the participants go over the properties of various chemicals, the responsibility of each person in the exercise and how to put together an emergency action plan.
The actual drill involved a simulated chlorine tank car leak in the East Cambridge railyard. The hazmat response team was comprised of three engine companies, two ladder trucks, two rescue units, a special operations truck and the deputy fire chief.
"We've been working with Guilford Rail over the last the 10 years," said Capt. Persson, "and each time we learn something new."
Entry team members, in encapsulating suits similar to these used in a drill in Waterville, ME, go through a strict decon stage during the exercise.