Whitefish officials describe oil train preparations

Since the Dec. 30, 2013, derailment of the BNSF Railway Bakken oil train in Casselton, N.D., considerable attention has been drawn to the safety of the communities these shipments are passing through. As Bakken oil shipments pass through our Whitefish community on a daily basis, we would like to take this opportunity to report to you our preparations and priorities should we be faced with a hazardous materials release in our community.

While the recent media focus has been on rail safety, specifically the transporting of Bakken oil, everyone should understand and be aware that other hazardous materials pass through Whitefish daily on the BNSF tracks and our highway system. So how do your public safety agencies prepare to handle a hazardous materials emergency should one occur?

“Protection of life” is always the No. 1 priority of your public safety departments, so to be prepared to meet this goal and the challenges presented by hazardous material incidents, the fire and police departments continually train, practice, plan and maintain partnerships with agencies directly involved in the transport of hazardous materials.

Our preparation starts with education. Police department personnel receive basic training in how to safely respond to a hazardous materials incident, while fire department’s personnel are trained to National Fire Protection Association’s Standard 472, Standards for Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents “operations” responder level.

The initial education received by personnel on both departments is then reinforced throughout each succeeding year with classroom and hands-on drills. These drills include participation in an annual large-scale drill conducted by the Flathead Office of Emergency Services under the guidelines of the Department of Homeland Security’s exercise and evaluation program.

This year’s drill will be held in October here in Whitefish. Our partner in this year’s drill will be BNSF Railway. As part of our partnership with the BNSF Railway, they provide on a yearly basis a hands-on tank-car safety class for all regional fire departments including Whitefish.

As part of our planning process, the staffs of the fire and police departments continually evaluate their preparations for hazard material risks that they may be confronted with and make adjustments as needed. Two key components utilized to review and update preparations for an incident are the Flathead County Comprehensive Response Plan and the BNSF Geographical Response Plan.

These plans delineate procedures, resources and guides to handling man-made and natural disasters that may be encountered in the region and along the railroad corridor. Both of these planning documents are continually reviewed and updated by their respective organizations to ensure that they provide the foundation for successful response to a major incident.

Planning also includes ensuring that incident management procedures will be in place and used during a major incident to successfully manage and coordinate command, control and communications during an incident. Your fire and police, as well as partnering agencies both public and private, train on and follow the National Incident Management System. Your fire department in particular is well-versed in this system as it utilizes this incident command procedure daily on all calls including ambulance responses.

We cannot minimize the importance of the partnerships that have been established between the public and private sectors, for without these relationships the foundation for successful response to a major incident wouldn’t be possible. To that extent, the city’s public safety departments continue to foster strong working relationships through frequent meetings, trainings and written communications with such organizations as the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services and BNSF Railway.

At one recent meeting with BNSF officials, mayor John Muhlfeld suggested a joint town hall meeting this summer to allow the public to address with BNSF and city officials their questions regarding transportation of hazardous materials through our community. More information with regards to this meeting will be published as the date, time and place are determined.

John Muhlfeld is the mayor of Whitefish, Bill Dial is the Whitefish police chief and Tom Kennelly is the Whitefish fire chief.