Following the recent train derailment and explosion that killed more than 30 people in Lac MĂ©gantic, Que., one has to wonder if Jasper is protected from a similar accident. Like Lac MĂ©gantic, Jasper is a town built around a railway where dangerous goods frequent the area.
“Bombs basically come through here,” said DJ (Klem) Klymchuk, a retired locomotive engineer for the Canadian National Railway. “We’ve got everything from sulfite, gasoline, diesel, and butane, to name a few of the dangerous chemicals.”
“That was such a unique case," Blair Antler, assistant manager of the Astoria Hotel, said about the Lac Mégantic derailment. "I don’t think anyone has an emergency plan for that.”
Fortunately, it is highly unlikely that a train accident like the one in Quebec could ever occur here. “Jasper’s rail yard is a through yard where everything stops. There’s no hills on either side of the yard, nor do they park trains on either side of the yard,” said Jasper Fire Chief Greg Van Tighem.
On top of that, CN is top notch when it comes to safety. “CN is a class one world renowned railway, and a leader in innovation and safety. Anyone that’s qualified to work for the company must take a medical every three years to ensure that they’re fit for duty in a safety critical position,” said Klymchuk. “CN is top of the line in training it’s people, and they have an efficiency testing system where they go out onto the field and create situations with a test model.”
If that weren’t enough, CN always operates with two people as opposed to one, as was the case with the American-based Montreal Maine and Atlantic who was in charge of derailed train in Lac Mégantic. “The one man operation is definitely unsafe, said Klymchuk. “If they would have had two men, there’s a greater chance that wouldn’t have happened. This is because with two people, they’re always checking back and forth with each other for any upcoming obstacles.”
CN also carries out regular maintenance on its railroads, and when trains pass through the Jasper rail yard, they do so at a maximum speed at 25 km per hour, as opposed to the 101 km an hour the derailed train was travelling.
Even if an incident were to happen that was beyond CN’s control, the fire department has an emergency response plan just in case.
Once a year they will call in Dean Monterey, a seasoned emergency manager with extensive international disaster management experience, to give a clinic at the fire hall on what to do in the event of a disaster.
“He puts together a scenario based on real facts with real timelines. For example, if it’s a forest fire he actually has these props to come out with actual spread and celerity and things that are based on science,” explained Van Tighem.
When Monterey gives his annual clinic, the fire department involves all the local emergency response agencies, including CN rail, ATCO, Parks Canada and the town of Jasper.
“One of the key things that makes us well protected is that all the agencies get along very well, and we all communicate on a year-round basis,” said Van Tighem.
David Kaufmann
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