Passenger Trains > Firefighters hop train to reach Essex-area fire

Firefighters hop train to reach Essex-area fire
Great Falls Tribune
August 24, 2015

> Firefighters reached a blaze still threatening the community of Essex
> via train cars Monday after aircraft bombed the blaze with water and
> retardant over the weekend.
>
> "I would say it's an unusual circumstance," Jonathan Moor, a public
> information officer, said of transporting firefighters to a fire by
> train. "We'll use whatever advantage we can to be able to get ahead
> of a fire. It's not every day a fire is burning in the vicinity of
> tracks."
>
> On Monday, BNSF Railway began shipping firefighters to the 581-acre
> fire who then went to work constructing fire lines from the railroad
> west up the Sheep Creek drainage.
>
> Previously, because of extreme fire activity and weather conditions,
> firefighters could not be put on the ground, Moor said.
>
> The Sheep Creek fire is located in the Great Bear Wilderness a mile
> south of Essex, which is along U.S. Highway 2 on the southern
> boundary of Glacier National Park. The highway and a rail line east
> of the fire, and 200 structures in the vicinity of Essex to the
> north, are threatened.
>
> Sonja Hartmann, another fire information officer, said that a major
> smoke inversion kept the sun off the fire limiting its growth
> Friday.
>
> "It's kept things cooler and less active," Hartmann said at 4:30
> p.m.
>
> On Saturday, 10,400 gallons of retardant and 187,000 gallons of water
> were dropped on the fire.
>
> The water and retardant drops are assisting in efforts to keep the
> fire from expanding toward areas where it would threaten structures
> but, Moor added, "fire sometimes can outpace our efforts."
>
> The U.S. Forest Service has lifted restrictions on use of retardant
> and chainsaws in the wilderness to fight the fire because it is
> threatening a community, Moor said.
>
> There are 45 personnel involved with air operations.
>
> Fire activity still could pick up over the next few days as a result
> of high temperatures and west-southwest winds, Moor said.
>
> Cost of fighting the fire has reached $1.5 million, with the bulk of
> that related to the air campaign, Moor said.
>
> One rail line through the area is being used to transport
> firefighters. A second line has been reopened for use by Amtrak and
> freight cars.

Story:

Firefighters hop train to reach Essex-area fire

 

Dang never heard that before but whatever it takes, hopefully once it starts cooling mid week they can start knocking down that blaze!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dang never heard that before but whatever it
> takes, hopefully once it starts cooling mid week
> they can start knocking down that blaze!

They don't need it to get cooler to fight that blaze. They just need the winds to die down and a little humidity would help too.

I wonder how the firefighters were accomdated on board a train. Did they ride flat cars?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/15 21:34 by wabash2800.

Some where it was reported that BNSF had hired private contract fire crews for this fire.

Can we get this confired.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated on
> board a train. Did they ride flat cars?

What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious rules and safety violation for persons other than railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment?? Especially a flat car without anything to hold on to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to have gentle train handling like passenger engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the firefighters could get thrown off or fall between the flat car and locomotive or another car and get killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with railroads now days preaching safety they would get it in their heads not to allow firefighters to ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on you BNSF!

Posted from Android

RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated
> on
> > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
>
> What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious
> rules and safety violation for persons other than
> railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment??
> Especially a flat car without anything to hold on
> to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> have gentle train handling like passenger
> engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the
> firefighters could get thrown off or fall between
> the flat car and locomotive or another car and get
> killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> railroads now days preaching safety they would get
> it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on
> you BNSF!
>
> Posted from Android

I didn't see any photos or mention of how they were transported other then on "train cars". No mention of the type of car.  Maybe a little research is in order before assuming the worst.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 05:32 by ATSF3751.

I can't find the story now but it stated that BNSF used hi-rail trucks at first to transport firefighters but then outfitted a work train to make the process faster. I assume "outfitted" to mean some sort of safety devices to allow "passengers".

Posted from iPhone

This also caught my attention. I am assuming that they are sprinkling the brush under the bridge.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2015/08/21/fridays-fire-roundup/32162335/

Posted from iPhone

RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated
> on
> > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
>
> What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious
> rules and safety violation for persons other than
> railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment??
> Especially a flat car without anything to hold on
> to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> have gentle train handling like passenger
> engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the
> firefighters could get thrown off or fall between
> the flat car and locomotive or another car and get
> killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> railroads now days preaching safety they would get
> it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on
> you BNSF!


Would you rather wait until Amtrak provided coaches and a crew, which would happen
at soonest around half-past October?

If your post was made in sarcasm, I apologize for missing that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 06:57 by GenePoon.

Thanks Gene for the update.
I have been concerned about this area and the fire activity.

RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated
> on
> > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
>
> What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious
> rules and safety violation for persons other than
> railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment??
> Especially a flat car without anything to hold on
> to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> have gentle train handling like passenger
> engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the
> firefighters could get thrown off or fall between
> the flat car and locomotive or another car and get
> killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> railroads now days preaching safety they would get
> it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on
> you BNSF!

You are assuming a lot, but in addition to that, being a firefighter is inherently dangerous. They are going to get off of their unsafe train and go into a fire, oh the humanity! To be safe, they should just stay home and watch the fire on TV...except the TV crew would be in danger shooting the fire, so no TV.

I have arranged for cops, firefighters, paramedics, and even folks being evacuated from fires and floods to ride on engines and cabooses. I've arranged for snowmen (gandys with brooms and shovels) to ride from control point to control point in engines (and even worse, get off and be left behind to clean switches, to be picked up by another train) where driving wasn't possible and even sent an engine loaded with gandys and carmen to a derailment that couldn't be driven to.

TAW

See the thread over on the Western board with pics of how they rode:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3826237
 

Thanks much for link. It satisfied my curiosity has to how they rode the train. I give BNSF two thumbs up for accomodating them.

pnger64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> See the thread over on the Western board with pics
> of how they rode:
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3
> 826237
>  

RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated
> on
> > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
>
> What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious
> rules and safety violation for persons other than
> railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment??
> Especially a flat car without anything to hold on
> to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> have gentle train handling like passenger
> engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the
> firefighters could get thrown off or fall between
> the flat car and locomotive or another car and get
> killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> railroads now days preaching safety they would get
> it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on
> you BNSF!
>
> Posted from Android


I'm sure that would be your attitude if the fire was closing in on your house...

ATSF3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > wabash2800 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I wonder how they firefighters were
> accomdated
> > on
> > > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
> >
> > What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> > firefighters. Do they not realize it is a
> serious
> > rules and safety violation for persons other
> than
> > railroad personnel to ride on railroad
> equipment??
> > Especially a flat car without anything to hold
> on
> > to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> > have gentle train handling like passenger
> > engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to,
> the
> > firefighters could get thrown off or fall
> between
> > the flat car and locomotive or another car and
> get
> > killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> > railroads now days preaching safety they would
> get
> > it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> > ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame
> on
> > you BNSF!
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> I didn't see any photos or mention of how they
> were transported other then on "train cars". No
> mention of the type of car.  Maybe a little
> research is in order before assuming the worst.


There was a comment that said" That the BNSF started shipping firefighters on Monday"

I didn't you could ship firefighters?

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Wabash simply ASKED if the firefighters were transported on flat cars. It was not a definitive statement.

Jay


RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how they firefighters were accomdated
> on
> > board a train. Did they ride flat cars?
>
> What a bunch of idiot! Both BNSF and the
> firefighters. Do they not realize it is a serious
> rules and safety violation for persons other than
> railroad personnel to ride on railroad equipment??
> Especially a flat car without anything to hold on
> to?? Ridiculous! Freight engineers tend not to
> have gentle train handling like passenger
> engineers do, and with nothing to hold on to, the
> firefighters could get thrown off or fall between
> the flat car and locomotive or another car and get
> killed or seriously hurt. And you thing with
> railroads now days preaching safety they would get
> it in their heads not to allow firefighters to
> ride on railroad equipment. Pure idiots!! Shame on
> you BNSF!
>
> Posted from Android

That's correct; I just asked.