DOWNTOWN TRAIN ‘CRASH COURSE’
SEPTA event simulated for first responder training
LANSDALE >> What would happen if a vehicle crashed into a train — in downtown Lansdale?
Numerous Montgomery County first responders literally got a “crash” course Sunday as part of a training exercise staged by SEPTA and area municipalities.
“It represents something we have to be prepared for,” said RJ Snyder, assistant chief of the Lansdale Fairmount Fire Company. “Hopefully it won’t be a terrorist event, but there could be other train accidents or derailments that could happen that we’d have to respond to.”
The training exercise took place at the borough’s SEPTA Regional Rail station, located at 101 W. Main St. The stop is part of the public transit system’s Lansdale-Doylestown line.
“It’s not every day you get a chance to actually practice with a train, so having this opportunity is kind of a big deal for our area departments to be able to train on.” — RJ Snyder, assistant chief Fairmount Fire Company
The first responders hailed from agencies in Hatfield, Lansdale and North Wales boroughs, as well as Montgomery, Towamencin and Upper Gwynedd townships.
Lansdale’s police department and volunteer medical service corps were also on scene.
Discussions to hold the training exercise began in fall 2019, and were further delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Snyder.
“[It’s been] a long time in planning and we’re happy that we got to this point and we’re ready to execute it,” he said.
There has never been a simulation like this held in the borough, according to John Townsend, SEPTA’s fire marshal and safety officer. He noted that there was one conducted more than a decade ago in nearby Upper Gwynedd.
Sunday’s scenario involved a person, “upset with how Lansdale is increasing in popularity,” who crashed a box truck into a train, Snyder said. Police were tasked with first clearing the scene as they received information from a “simulated dispatch center,” and firefighters and emergency medical services personnel then assisted in rescuing victims on the train or in the truck.
“It’s not every day you get a chance to actually practice with a train, so having this opportunity is kind of a big deal for our area departments to be able to train on,” Snyder said.
A dummy acted as the box truck driver, and roughly 20 volunteers from North Montco Technical Career Center portrayed passengers on the train, according to Snyder.
Townsend emphasized holding a training exercise like this spotlights the importance of planning and preparation for all involved.
“This is what we call a ‘low occurrence, high risk,’” he said. “It never really happens, but when it does, you want everybody to be on the same game page, and playing out of the same playbook.”
Townsend stressed that the simulation was just that — a simulation.
“There’s no injuries. Everything has been simulated, [and] pre-planned well in advance,” he said.
It was the first time for many participating in Sunday’s roughly hour-long simulation.
Fairmount Fire Company Captain 14 Michael Hess was tasked with tending to those in the box truck.
“We learned a lot. It’s one of the things that you don’t get that many incidents like this around so it’s good to try and train on some of this stuff,” Hess said.
Nicholas Seigenfuse, a captain in the Upper Gwynedd Township Fire Department worked as a liaison
for his fire company in the event’s organization and focused on staging and evaluations during the actual exercise.
When asked about concerns of something like the presented scenario actually taking place, several Montgomery County first responders were candid in their responses.
“There’s a lot of crossings in Lansdale itself so it’s one of those things if you’ve ever have a train versus a car, or anything like that, it’s good to be able to prepare,” Hess said.
“It is possible,” Seigenfuse said. “It’s a realization every day no matter what shape the world is in. Something like this could happen at any time, and we have to be prepared for those emergencies.”
“For us, it’s just a matter of being prepared for the worst,” said. Gavin Butler, deputy chief of the Fairmount Fire Company.
Butler worked on incident command as he coordinated the area fire companies,
police and emergency medical services agencies. He added that there were between 100 and 125 people participating, including first responders, SEPTA officials and those acting as victims.
“These types of rescues are time intensive,” Butler said. “It’s not like a one-vehicle crash where you’ve got one person you have to get out. You have a commercial truck with two passenger train cars, multiple victims so it’s time extensive, but it went really well.”
Lansdale borough officials were also present. Mayor Garry Herbert expressed his appreciation to all involved who worked to make this happen.
“It’s heartwarming, and really positive to see just how fast we can all come together and do something like this because you don’t see it but there’s a ton of work on the backside that no one really recognizes until you see an operation like this take place, and it just reminds you how important prep is,” Herbert said.
Lansdale Borough Manager John Ernst agreed.
“We have to be prepared for as many different possibilities, and these types of events give everybody a chance to practice their skills,” Ernst said.