LYNCHBURG, Va. – Rail safety has been a big topic of discussion with the recent train derailments in Ohio and one as recently as last week in West Virginia.
Our region is no stranger to derailments, like the 17 rail cars that fell into the James River in Lynchburg back in 2014.
Next month will mark nine years since a CSX train derailed in Lynchburg, dumping thousands of gallons of fuel into the James River.
Lynchburg’s Battalion Chief Daniel Williams was one of the first crews to arrive on the scene that day.
“When you turned the corner, everything was just black. And so the first thing we wanted to do was to make sure life safety wasn’t a situation. If it is then we want to evacuate as quickly as we can,” said Williams.
No one was hurt and no hazardous chemicals were released from that derailment.
Since then, Williams says the city has taken extra steps to prepare for future disasters.
“The train derailment really opened our eyes as a city and organization into what is actually coming through our city,” he said.
“We started identifying those hazardous materials that are coming through our area which helped us with our training. [We] Sent a few folks to Colorado who were training with crude oil which is what had spilled here and started catching fire,” said Williams.
10 News learned the response plan if a train were to derail in the city.
Lynchburg Fire and EMS says they would be the first to respond and receive assistance from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, as well as other state agencies depending on the specific response needed.
Williams says he feels confident if something like the 2014 derailment were to happen again, emergency crews would be ready.
“I think we are as prepared as we can be. It’s one of those things that we don’t necessarily know what’s being transported. We have an idea. And if we can’t get our hands on the bill of lading to show us where we are, it goes back to the foundational work that we’ve been taught,” he said.