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| Issues | Comments |
| Access | Access was extremely limited due to the remoteness
of the accident site, which made the evacuation of
passengers and the injured very difficult. On the
other hand, the remoteness of the site assisted law
enforcement with crowd and traffic control efforts |
| Communications | The volume of radio traffic quickly overwhelmed
the two-way communications system. The absence
of a repeater system and the remote location hampered
the use of portable radios and was not conducive
to the use of cellular telephones. There were
only five incoming 911 lines and 911 telephone
lines, which were quickly overcome by the 519
telephone calls processed by the Adams County
Communication Center. |
| Media | The remote location and inaccessibility of the
incident site allowed the emergency responders to
seal off the perimeter and prepare for the arrival of
the media. Nevertheless, media inquires were
abundant, some as far away as London and
Brisbane. |
| Pre-Incident Planning | While an incident of this type had not been preplanned,
the presence of an up-to-date County
Emergency Operations Plan, which had been
regularly exercised, contributed to the successful
outcome of the incident. The Plan included an
annex for tornado response, which can include
multiple causalities. Emergency Responders
successfully followed the guidelines of the tornado
plan in conducting search and rescue operations
as well as treating, transporting, and sheltering
the large number of injured passengers.
The local firefighters had not been trained to
rescue and extricate people from trains. Therefore,
they relied upon on their training in searching
for and rescuing victims of tornadoes. |
| Rescue Efforts | Many of the doors jammed when the derailment
occurred and the train lost electrical power. The
windows were not breakable and a number of the
cars were two stories in height with narrow
stairways. All of these factors delayed and hampered
in the search and rescue effort.
The train derailment occurred at 11:40 hours and
many of the passengers on the train were already
asleep. The incident site was in an unlit area and
the absence of emergency lighting on the train
made compounded the disorientation of the passengers
as they attempted to find their shoes and coats
and exit the train. Emergency responders were
required to illuminate the scene to the best of their
ability to conduct search and rescue operations |
| Time of Day | The temperature at the time of the incident was
28°F. Winds were calm and the sky was clear. It
had recently snowed, but the accumulations on the
roadways had already melted. The lack of a wind
chill no doubt prevented any cold related temperatures,
while the freezing temperature helped stabilize
the unpaved roadbed. The cold weather also made it
imperative to open a shelter to accommodate the
large number of passengers that were not injured,
but were exposed to the freezing temperatures. |
| Weather | If the weather had been warmer the melting snow
and ice would have led to the formation of mud on
the unpaved access to the incident site, which
would have impeded rescue efforts. Elevated
conditions would have also contributed to the
possibility of heat related injuries to passengers and
emergency responders. |
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