Siegmund
Lead Service Attendant
A question came up in the Empire Builder wreck thread (Joplin MT, 25 September 2021) as to whether rural fire departments responding to a wreck were likely to have any experience with Amtrak equipment.
I wanted to post an affirmative answer, at least for rural western Montana, in a place that won't be buried in that thread.
I have no firsthand information about this event, but I attach below a set of 24 photographs that the Trego-Fortine-Stryker Volunteer Fire Department published on their public Facebook page in June 2017. (Stryker, MT, is where the Flathead Tunnel line diverges from the pre-1970 water level route to Libby via Eureka and Rexford; Trego and Fortine are the first two sidings compass north / railway west from that junction, and this rural volunteer department really will be the first responder if there is ever an accident inside the Flathead Tunnel.)
TFSVFD's accompanying text: "Trego Fortine Stryker fire department along with many other agencies, conducted a training exercise at the flathead tunnel. Amtrak and BNSF parked a train at the entrance to the tunnel to simulate a passenger rescue situation. Rescue teams had to work to extract passengers from the train. Ranging from lowering them out of the window and down a ladder on a back bored (15 feet up ) to helping them walk out of the tunnel. Smoke mechanics filled the train with smoke as rescue teams worked to complete their mission."
"It was a great day of training, we would like to thank Amtrak and BNSF for giving us this opportunity to train and learn."
If anyone happens to know how common these training events are around the Amtrak system, or whether there has been a systematic effort to offer training to every enroute department, please chime in.
First 10 photos attached to this post. See next two posts for more.
I wanted to post an affirmative answer, at least for rural western Montana, in a place that won't be buried in that thread.
I have no firsthand information about this event, but I attach below a set of 24 photographs that the Trego-Fortine-Stryker Volunteer Fire Department published on their public Facebook page in June 2017. (Stryker, MT, is where the Flathead Tunnel line diverges from the pre-1970 water level route to Libby via Eureka and Rexford; Trego and Fortine are the first two sidings compass north / railway west from that junction, and this rural volunteer department really will be the first responder if there is ever an accident inside the Flathead Tunnel.)
TFSVFD's accompanying text: "Trego Fortine Stryker fire department along with many other agencies, conducted a training exercise at the flathead tunnel. Amtrak and BNSF parked a train at the entrance to the tunnel to simulate a passenger rescue situation. Rescue teams had to work to extract passengers from the train. Ranging from lowering them out of the window and down a ladder on a back bored (15 feet up ) to helping them walk out of the tunnel. Smoke mechanics filled the train with smoke as rescue teams worked to complete their mission."
"It was a great day of training, we would like to thank Amtrak and BNSF for giving us this opportunity to train and learn."
If anyone happens to know how common these training events are around the Amtrak system, or whether there has been a systematic effort to offer training to every enroute department, please chime in.
First 10 photos attached to this post. See next two posts for more.