Railway safety exercise involves local agencies
Motorists on SR 532, Florence Road and Cedarhome Drive will see a large number of fire and EMS vehicles and a lot of activity in the area east of the Amtrak platform March 13 and 14 when Stanwood Camano Fire and Stanwood Police departments will be working with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Amtrak on several training events.
Neighboring residents and passersby should not call 911 to report an emergency.
Two exercises on the rail spur east of the Stanwood Amtrak platform will be partially visible from the platform.
The training events will involve rail and Amtrak cars positioned on the rail spur so that emergency teams can become familiar with the special safety equipment requirements.
BNSF and Amtrak are providing instruction, training materials and operational equipment as part of their safety program with local communities and first responders. Area police, fire and EMS agencies will be involved in the exercise as they would in an actual incident.
The weekend exercises will begin at 9 a.m. and run until 1 p.m. Saturday and a bit later on Sunday. They will not interfere with passenger or freight service in Stanwood.
Exercise vehicles will be driving posted speeds and will not be using lights or sirens, but motorists should be careful of the large vehicles in the area during the exercise.
Signs will be posted in the area reminding residents and visitors of the exercise.
Safety considerations and regulations governing the training and on-going active rail operations prohibit persons not officially part of the exercise from entering railroad property or the clearly marked exercise areas.
The exercise will strictly follow applicable occupational safety and environmental regulations. No hazardous material will be used.
All materials used in the exercise simulations will be removed from the site following the exercises.
For more information
about this training call the
Stanwood Fire Station at
360-629-2184 or the Stanwood
Police Department
at 425-388-5290.
