BELLEVUE, Ohio — The fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February has given rise to more discussions of rail safety in the U.S.
First responders from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia learned more about rail safety what to do in various railroad incidents Tuesday at a training in Bellevue held by Norfolk Southern, the rail company that has seen multiple derailments in recent weeks, including the one in East Palestine.
The training was scheduled before the derailment ever happened, but now, first responders from across the area and more equipped to handle situations like that.
"It's a huge benefit to be able to come up and take this class," East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said. "Learn specifics about the trains, how to identify stuff on the trains, product and what to do in case something does happen."
The first responders were trained in skills like reading complex paperwork to knowing what certain valves are.
"We learned a lot about train cars, basically," Hamler Volunteer Fire Department Chief Kevin Neimeyer said. "How everything is put together, how you identify them and how things have changed, too."
Norfolk Southern communications manager Connor Spielmaker claimed many first responders might not receive this kind of training otherwise.
"Training is meant to be training, it's not a stunt," Spielmaker said. "We want to bring these guys out here to learn what could happen on the railroad and how to respond to it."
After the train derailment in East Palestine, this is the kind of information that first responders and other emergency personnel say they want to know.
"God forbid that we do have to deal with something like this in the future, but if the situation arises, we want to be prepared," Taylor Harrell, an emergency response specialist in Toledo, said. "We want to be able to work efficiently with Toledo fire and anything other entity that may be involved with that."
There are seven more of these training happening across the region.
Norfolk Southern officials said the trainings are also a chance for the embattled rail company to build relationships with local first responders.
"When we are out here with these first responders, they get to know us," Spielmaker said. "These trainings are given by our regional hazardous material personnel. They're trained to do this and they're providing these trainings. They're also the same ones who are going to respond to these incidents."
Harrell said Toledo-area employees like himself didn't imagine they'd need to know many of the skills they learned on Tuesday but are glad to now know crucial information.
"Learning about each car, the type they are, how they carry their materials and how they're handled if something may arise like a valve leak is just really eye-opening," Harrell said.
Norfolk Southern has done this safety training for a handful of years and is now looking to make a dedicated facility, but there's no timeline yet on when it will be built.