EPFD Chief: Some Post-Derailment Recommendations Were Already in Progress
September 25, 2024 10:32AM EDT
FILE – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, right, prepares to meet with reporters after touring the Norfolk Southern train derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. Fire Chief Keith Drabick is at left. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (News Talk 1480 WHBC) – East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick had been on the job only a year when the toxic train derailment occurred last year.
But he had already begun work on some of the recommendations given in a recently-released After Action Review by a consultant:
Like establishing a box alarm system so that proper equipment is sent to the incident location.
Also, using levels one and two staging, so that responders don’t get “boxed in” at the scene.
The report notes that a train derailment training exercise attended by firefighters four months before the incident was valuable that February 2023 night.
The report does suggest increasing attendance at training sessions by making them mandatory.