Incident Command System and�Climate Change on the Railroad: �Training for Railroad Field Level Supervisors and Staff Rules Instructor’s Guide

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Incident Command System (ICS) Training for Field Level Supervisors and Staff: NCHRP Web-Only Document 215. https://doi.org/10.17226/23411. Adapted with permission from the National Academy of Sciences, Courtesy of the National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.

ICS and Climate Change

• Introduction of ICS
• Self-introductions of students
• Workshop housekeeping
• Safety message
• Restrooms and breaks
• Workshop materials
• PowerPoint slides
• ICS Quick Start Cards
• FOG
• Supervisor’s Folder

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ICS and Climate Change:�Role of Rail In Emergency Management

• Today’s learning goals:
• Review the role of railroads in climate change-related emergencies
• Review ICS roles and terminology
• Consider the application of ICS to climate change situations on the railroad
• Introduction of ICS resources
• Supervisor’s folder
• Quick Reference Cards
• Sand table exercises

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Florida freight rail bridge destroyed by Hurricane Ian, 2022. Source: Fox Weather, 10/5/22, https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/florida-railroad-bridges-washed-away-supply-line-hurricane-ian

ICS and Climate Change

• Key to all emergency response
• Pre-event evacuation
• Response
• Post-event recovery
• Coordination with other emergency responders
• Railroads support response
• Delivery of first responders, supplies
• Safety Inspection- bridges, tunnels, and rails
• Debris removal for access
• Expedient repairs

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BNSF Fire Train carrying first responder and fire fighting water supplies. Source: Wild Fire Today, 6/23/19, https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/fire-train/

ICS and Climate Change

• “Emergency Response Provider” includes rail personnel in ICS
• Homeland Security Act 2002
• Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act 2006
• “Critical transportation” = Core Capability under National Preparedness Goal

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Older BNSF 999000 caboose Fire Train, retrofitted as command center for the fire train. 8/19/2010, https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbdal49/4909034564

Incident Command

System (ICS)

• 1970s California FIRESCOPE
• 1980 National Fire Academy
• 2004 NIMS
• Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 (HSPD-5), 2003

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World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacked 9/11/2001

National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incorporates…

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• Incident Command System (ICS)
• Modular, flexible, span of control, unity of command
• Common Terminology
• Management by Objective
• Unified Command
• Multi-agency coordination system (MACS)
• Mutual Aid Agreements

ICS for Railroads

• Functions of the Incident Command System in the Field
• General Staff = Incident Commander, Planning/Intel Chief, Logistics Chief, Operations Chief, Finance/Administration Chief
• Command Staff = Safety Officer Public Information Officer, Liaison Officer

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ICS for Railroads

• ICS is flexible and scalable
• Use what you need, staff to meet span of control requirements
• ICS can be used for emergencies, disasters and catastrophes
• Spilled potatoes
• Hurricane Sandy
• ICS can be used for planned events
• Parades
• Sporting events
• Planned maintenance

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Source: NTSB.gov

Source: Caltrans

Practical Application of ICS in Rail Service

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East Palestine, Ohio NS Derailment.

Source: NTSB, 2024.

NIMS/ICS:�Perform Reliably

and Effectively

• Goal of NIMS/ICS: Reliable and effective response to an event, emphasizing safety of DOT staff
• Achieved through
• SAFETY
• Check-in
• Check-out
• Demobilization
• Personnel Accountability

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Freight train derailment, 4/27/2024.

Source: Creative Commons

ICS for Railroad

• Goals
• Safety
• Check-in

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Examples of “T” Cards

Example of a fire department incident Command post.

ICS FOR Railroad

• Goals
• Safety
• Check out
• Demobilization

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ICS FOR Railroad

• Personnel accountability includes care
• Food, shelter
• Medical and mental health
• Family contacts

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Can be handled internally.

May require documentation.

Needs multiple organizations and a variety of resources to solve.

​

Will require use of ICS

Problem

Transportation

Capability

Transportation Capability

Problem

ICS for Railroad

• Railroad maintenance staff may be sent to an emergency at any time.
• Getting ready in advance will make for a more efficient response.
• Work vehicle kit
• Professional Drive Away Kit

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ICS for Railroads

• Family preparedness
• Family plan
• Family car kit
• Family supplies at home
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

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15 Minute BREAK

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Union Pacific Snow Train. Source: Edwards, 2005.

Arguments for Using the Incident Command System

• HazMat – EPA mandated use
• Legal – Best Practice, good defense for civil litigation
• Safety - primary reason why ICS was created in the first place.
• Do we cut corners when under pressure and/or tired?
• Common Operational Picture

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Five ICS Roles Possible for Rail Personnel

• Join an existing ICS in Operations
• Wildland Fire
• Join an existing ICS in Planning/Intelligence
• Subject matter expert in derailment
• Unified Command
• In natural disaster: Hurricane Sandy, New York
• Assume command
• Flash flood wash out of rail lines
• Incident Commander
• Event occurs right in front of you

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Long Island Railroad tracks in The Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy.

Source: Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Wildland Fires Are Becoming

More Frequent

• Minnesota estimates that trains cause 3% of all wildland fires in the state.
• Climate change is causing extremely hot weather to be experienced farther north, causing droughts and wind that can fan wildland fires.
• Total cost of wildland fires is $2.5 billion/year and rising (Wildfire Mitigation and Management Commission, 2023).
• Railroads have created fire trains that provide tanks of water, first responder transportation, and even a caboose as an emergency operations center.

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BNSF Fire Train. Source: BNSF.

Join Existing Incident Command System

• Railroad’s help would be requested by another agency, like a fire department
• Railroad maintenance personnel would be dispatched from their normal duties to assist the requesting agency with access, right of way clearance, expedient repairs, or similar work.
• Rail workers formally join the existing ICS through the check-in procedure, and get assigned to the Liaison Officer or to a supervisor to perform tasks related to rail capabilities.
• A brief video Number 3 on joining an existing IC is available at https://vimeo.com/showcase/11005939

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Heat Is Deforming Tracks

• Climate change is making heat waves and heat domes more frequent and intense.
• Rail track metallurgy is designed for expected regional temperatures, but hot periods are moving north and lasting longer.
• Heat can cause tracks to deform—thermal buckling or “sun kinks”—possibly leading to derailments.
• In 2022 BART tracks in San Francisco, usually operating at 115 degrees reached 140 degrees, causing them to warp, and result in a partial derailment (Freedman, 2022).

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High heat caused buckling.

Source: US Department of Transportation (US DOT), 2019.

Transportation as a

Technical Specialist

• Rail maintenance personnel or conductor (if a train is involved) may be tasked as technical specialist to the incident command.
• Technical specialists are part of the Planning/Intelligence Section in ICS.
• In a derailment, maintenance crew can explain rail operations to help the IC provide better response.
• In a derailment with hazmat involvement, the conductor may have MSDS or other consist information that would help the IC develop a safe response.

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California train derailment due to heat,

8/2/2020. Source: ParkerPioneer.net

Natural Disasters: Hurricanes

• A warming climate brings warmer oceans, providing energy for increased rainfall and wind speeds (SFI, 2011).
• Rail lines along the East and Gulf Coasts will experience more damage from wind, water, debris.
• Rail will remain a critical part of response to hurricanes, providing transportation for first responders, response equipment, community supplies and access to hard-to-reach areas, making rail a key partner in the unified command for response and recovery.
• After Hurricane Katrina NS took only 16 days to lift 5 miles of track out of the water and back onto the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge (AAR, n.d.).

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Post-hurricane ballast repair. Source: AAR, 2011.

Unified Command

• Type of incident example – hurricane
• Fire is the Incident Commander whenever human life or hazardous materials are involved.
• Law Enforcement provides traffic control, evidence protection, and scene access control.
• Rail supports critical supply chains; may require that railroad damage assessment and expedient repairs begin immediately, to permit access to the disaster and delivery of essential goods and personnel.
• May include EMS for life saving services
• May include EPA for hazmat management & clean-up
• May include Fish and Wildlife for environmental clean-up; Coast Guard for navigable waterways

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“Unified command is a team effort that allows all agencies with jurisdictional responsibility for an incident, either geographical or functional, to participate in the management of the incident…developing and implementing a common set of incident objectives…without losing …agency authority, responsibility or accountability.” FEMA FOG, 2010, p. 6-2.

Flood washout of

rail lines

• High water can weaken rail bridges, wash away ballast, and damage signals and trackside monitoring equipment (AAR, n.d.).
• 8 states along the Gulf Coast are already seeing damage from sea level rise; 38% of the US population lives in coastal counties (Solecki and Friedman, 2021).
• Sea level rise and storm surge are already impacting west coast railroads, such as the Los Angeles to San Diego freight corridor that is experiencing mudslides from the hillsides and undermining from sea level rise.
• Once the initial emergency is resolved and life safety assured, the Incident Command may pass to rail as the facility owner, coordinating with state and federal agencies to complete recovery and repairs.

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LOSSAN corridor. Source: SANDAG, 2023 2023.20

LOSSAN at Mariposa Point. Source: Caltrans, 2023.

Assume Command: Transfer of Command

• Report to existing Incident Commander
• Assume command from another agency whose work is done
• Continue the Incident Command until all railroad-related issues are successfully completed
• Close out the Incident or transfer the command to another agency with responsibility for the remaining issues
• For example, to EPA for environmental remediation
• A brief video Number 2 on transferring IC is available at:�https://vimeo.com/showcase/11005939

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ACE Train mudslide and derailment, 2023

Disaster adjacent to

rail lines

• In remote areas rail lines may run parallel to country roads, where public safety responders are few.
• An accident on the country road may occur adjacent to where a rail maintenance crew is working. They might start ICS while awaiting the arrival of fire, medical and law enforcement personnel.

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6 20 24

Car hits train tamper, assisted by railroad crew.

Source: Creative Commons.

Incident Command:�Starting Incident Command

• Event on an isolated road
• Railroad personnel are first on the scene, there doing maintenance
• Supervisor starts ICS using the folder
• A brief video Number 1 on starting IC is available at:�https://vimeo.com/showcase/11005939

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15 Minute BREAK

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Digital inspection portal with 38 cameras.

Source: NTSB.gov.

Planning P

​

How you look at the “P” and how much documentation is needed is dictated by the complexity and size of the event.

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Step 1 Recognize that you have a problem/issue

Step 2 Define what the problem/issue is

Step 3 Identify what the objective is for solving the problem/issue

Step 4 Identify all possible options/alternatives

Step 5 Use the options/alternatives to determine limitations and help clarify the objective (Step 3)

Step 6 Select the best option/alternative to meet the objective

Step 7 Convert option/alternative into a plan (who will do what in which order)

Problems and Decisions in ICS

Step 8 Implement the plan

Step 9 Evaluate the overall situation.

• Option 1 If the plan is failing to meet the objective, adjust it
• Option 2 If the plan is clearly not capable of meeting the objective, select another option/alternative (Step 6)
• Option 3 If no options/alternatives are viable, redefine the objective (Step 3)
• Option 4 If objective is not obtainable, redefine the problem/issue (Step 2)

Step 10 Monitor environment for problems/issues.

Quick exercise with the ICS cards

• Divide into 3 teams, each team selects one of the scenarios on the next page. The person with the longest rail experience will be the IC for each team.
• Mentally place the scenario in a location within your jurisdiction.
• In all three,
• You are a field level person working with a crew performing railroad maintenance
• You are close enough to clearly see the event
• You are not in immediate danger
• Fire, law, and medical are not present
• It is in a rural area (increased response time)
• You have access to an ICS Supervisor’s Kit
• Use the ICS Card sheets behind the PPT slides to guide your response.

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Scenario 1

A ½ ton truck is driving on a narrow country road that is parallel to the railroad tracks just off the right-of-way. You watch as it runs down, and over, two joggers. It then chases a third jogger off the path before continuing. You look back up the road and see at least one more body.

Scenario 2

You hear and then see a small explosion on the back of a flatbed truck in a commercial parking lot next to the tracks. Some 55-gallon drums have been scattered around the truck by the blast and several people can be seen choking, vomiting, and falling down.

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Scenario 3

You are repairing rails at the incline when a hopper truck of aggregate hits the support column for the railroad overcrossing for the highway. The truck jackknifes, spilling its load across all lanes of the freeway. Debris has hit cars on both sides, resulting in multiple car accidents on both sides of the road.

Reports Back

• Each team in turn will report on how they responded to the event. Each ICS member will report on his/her job and how he/she performed that function to support the event.
• After each team report is complete, the other teams may comment on how the event was managed and how ICS was used.

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ICS FOR RAILROAD SUMMARY

• Transportation is the key to all emergency response
• ICS is the method required by the federal government to organize the response to a multi-jurisdictional, multi-profession emergency event
• The five functions of ICS are used in the field by all emergency response personnel
• Safety, accountability, and care for personnel are accomplished through check-in, check-out and demobilization
• Put a work vehicle kit in your trunk and develop a professional drive-away kit for quick assembly.
• Getting your home ready for an emergency and your family into CERT will give you peace of mind when you are deployed in a disaster to help the community.

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Union Pacific Fire Train at Lava Fire, 2021.

Source: Union Pacific, 2021.

Wrap-Up

Questions?

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Freight engine, Mojave, California. Source: Edwards, 2021.