Area crews undergo haz-mat training in sweltering conditions

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) - With drought conditions gripping parts of Eastern North Dakota and high temps expected later in the week, the National Weather Service says this has been the warmest calendar year on record so far for the Fargo area. Area firefighters and emergency responders endured the heat as part of haz-mat training today.

We are in the heart of ag country. That means truck and train traffic and lots of potential for an emergency situation. In sweltering heat today, safety officials learned it all.

On top of an anhydrous train car and even inside it, BNSF trained local safety officials as part of a special training program called TRANS-CARE. It brings local firefighters and emergency responders to the heart of a spill - inside the tanker, learning in oven like conditions.

Tony Bacino – BNSF: “Inside the tank car is a classroom that has all of the cutaways of the valves so the students not only get to understand how the car works as loading and unloading, but they also get to see and put their hands on the valves – see how they operate.”

From the valves on an overturned tanker car, to a tanker semi-truck carrying chemical, fire departments, like the volunteer force from Horace, say with so much movement of ag product by rail and road, the training just makes sense.

Robert Dirk – Horace Fire Department: “The more prepared and the more knowledge you have when you get a call out to a the scene, the better off we are, and when we have a lot of farmers coming into town bringing tanks in go get refilled.”

Still vivid in the minds of North Dakotans: The Minot Train Derailment of 2002. Of the 31 cars derailed, 15 carried anhydrous.

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