I'm finally getting around to prepping for train spills. I can see the railroad from my house, and it carries a lot of freight. I'm assuming a bug out to a hotel while continuing to work. How long of a bug out should I prep for?
Also, should I consider any special equipment?
It would be helpful to look at a few examples. I recall reading about some on this site, but I'm not finding them right now.
My family was evacuated during a train derailment in Mississauga in 1979. It was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history until the evacuation of New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and remains the second-largest as of 2016.
My dad packed up us kids and took us to my grandparents house while my mom, a nurse, went to work to help evacuate the nursing home she worked in. The experience made a lasting impression on 8 year old me. Back then, it felt like an adventure but now, as a parent, I can only imagine the nightmare it must have been.
I live near national rail lines now and being prepared for a derailment is a top priority for our family. Bug-out bags are are always at the ready and the car is always least half full of fuel for a trip out of town for a few days or a week. Our plan is to stay with relatives out of town. (I expect that a train disaster here would only be local in nature. In other words, not part of some greater calamity, and that our out of town destinations would still be viable.)
Traffic could be a challenge as we'd all likely be pushed North, away from the rail lines which are mostly to the South of us. Hotels and motels on the out of town routes would fill quickly. Reminds me of a trip to Louisiana a few years ago. We arrived during a mass of festivals and ended up driving the entire North-South route from New Orleans to Shreveport and then through Texas looking for a hotel room. Unable to find a vacancy, we slept in the car. The weather was great but I wouldn't expect that here, so my car preps include shelter.
Based on two derailment evacs that I have done, 3 days of clothing suitable for the season. Know what hotels are on the other side of town or make agreements with friends on the other side of your town/city. Have spare meds in your BoB along with some personal hygiene items. If applicable, know what special needs items you will have to grab before you go. We keep a large suitcase packed with adult diapers, chucks, wet ones, etc. I know I have to grab the portable lift and both slings, and the potty chair.
There are a couple of motel chains that offer two room suites with kitchenettes for extremely reasonable rates and that helps us accomodate DD1 much easier.
Expect no warning of a derailment. My first experience occurred at 0400 and resulted in large propane cars exploding at about 1 per minute for hours. My second experience was at 1000 and involved tank cars of sulphuric acid. We were evac'd for 1 day during the first incident and 2 days for the second incident.
The above plus our BoB's and cash/credit cards is what we required this second time around. When we evac, we try to make it a vacation.
Just listening to the list of chemicals being carried on that train makes me wonder "what were these people thinking". I'm sure bean-counters somewhere decided it's a cost-effective way to move chemicals, but the hazard presented (but that will never happen) is significant. That's what insurance is for; do you feel assured?
Upon considering my escape plan more carefully, I realized there is a problem. The main street runs parallel to the railroad, perhaps less than 20' away. The two of them intersect the nearest interstate highway. The exist/on ramp are very close to the intersection.
(1) If a spill happens, the main street will probably get shut down.
(2) I may not be able to get on the highway and high tail it out of there.
(3) My roughly triangular town is bounded by the interstate on one side, and the railroad on the other. I feel kind of screwed. I may need to get near the source of the spill in order to get away.
So the big question is, if a spill happens, how close can I get and how far away should I get?
Rail was first designed for delivery of people and goods to the places where people are concentrated. Then the business changed, moving bulk materials, some potentially very hazardous, through those same corridors. So it goes.
The first question is: are you in a situation where you could shelter in place? A well sealed dwelling, at some distance to the tracks themselves, is sometimes the best choice. In a car you are highly vulnerable to a chemical cloud; much less so in a dwelling.
The second question: if you really want to bug out, have you considered back-door and back-road options for getting out of Dodge? You would not believe the places that even a little four-banger car can go, given decent tires, an experienced driver, and a thoughtful recon if possible (on foot always wins). But only when the wind is right.
The other thing you might want to do is talk to the emergency preparation people in your local government, and talk to the brass at the local fire hall. They have almost certainly been paying attention to the potential threat, even though nobody else has (or wants to even hear about it). There may be a treasure trove of information there for asking, and lots of carefully considered professional advice -- which you have already paid for in your taxes.
The second question: if you really want to bug out, have you considered back-door and back-road options for getting out of Dodge? You would not believe the places that even a little four-banger car can go, given decent tires, an experienced driver, and a thoughtful recon if possible (on foot always wins). But only when the wind is right.
In making such plans, Google Earth can be a good starting point as sometimes paths/trails etc. can be hidden from street view. If you see a potential route on Google Earth, try to check it out in advance, as the Google Earth photos can be a couple of years old, and obstructions may have been put into place. For example near me, a nice route into a forest clearing shown open on Google Earth is now blocked by fences protecting a solar power installation powering a local farmer's home.
Me too, but I guess mine were stress-free compared to yours. My Dad kept it light. He was rushed but kept us upbeat, like we were going on an adventure. It was an unexpected trip to my grandparents house, which was always fun for us. I'll have to ask him about it someday, to gain his insights. Thanks for the prompt!!
We continue to explore all the roads and routes out and to our bug-out location options. We now have a pretty good paper map with routes marked and updated.
It's a good idea to check your routes regularly to stay aware of changes and detours. Today, for example, I discovered that all of the side roads off of one of our main roads are closed for construction for several miles. This seriously extended a trip for us this afternoon, and would make for a nightmare during an emergency evac. They just opened a new highway extension to the North of us, and construction on it's extension continues - totally buggering road travel. It's complicated our evac out of the city and something to consider.
Just listening to the list of chemicals being carried on that train makes me wonder "what were these people thinking". I'm sure bean-counters somewhere decided it's a cost-effective way to move chemicals, but the hazard presented (but that will never happen) is significant. That's what insurance is for; do you feel assured?
I forgot the actual numbers, but IIRC, both the accident and spill rate was considerably lower for trains than for trucks.
As far as chemicals go, I would give some serious considerations to replacing or augmenting the N95 particulate masks in the kit with better respirators (carbon filter element?). The last thing you want is to be sucking on leaking nasties and combustion products while stuck in traffic.
You can purchase an "Emergency Response Guide" which is a small book we keep in all our fire vehicles.
It gives you information about what the placards and their numbers mean, minimum safe isolation and evacuation distances, hazards and special precautions to consider and what sort of protective equipment is necessary.
A military gas mask will protect you against chemicals, biological agents, and nuclear radiated particles. Make the filters are stored in sealed plastic bags.
MSA certified full faced respirators will protect you also but make sure you have the proper filters.
Is a military gas mask required or would a commercially available full face respirator such as those available on Amazon.com be adequate. The mask I have is full face and can support particulate and various chemical filter cartridges. Filter cartridge selection really depends on what chemicals you anticipate needing to walk/drive through.
One cartridge will protect against: Organic vapors. A second cartridge protects against Chlorine, Hydrogen chloride, Sulfur dioxide and Formaldehyde. Another cartridge protects against: Organic vapors, Sulfur dioxide, Chlorine, Hydrogen chloride, Hydrogen fluoride. A fourth cartridge protects against Ammonia and Methylamine vapor.
Which of those cartridges would be best to stock for a derailment event? Which of those chemicals are you most likely to encounter?
Since the cartridges are stackable you can combine the various filters to accommodate all of the above although that would be a fairly long stack and inhaling resistance would increase. I recommend adding a particulate filter and pre-filter to stop larger airborne particles from clogging the chemical filters.
continuing... the train wreck in BPJ's post had cars with Chlorine, Propane, Caustic Soda (aka Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)), and something called tooley/tooli/tooly/touli (I have no idea how to spell it and have no idea what chemicals are involved. What filter would be effective or is it best to go with an air tank and just skip filtering ambient air?
Depends... Sometimes it's know which chemicals are shipped on a railroad, so sometimes it's worth checking that out.
A respirator is a last resort kind of protection. When a gas leak occurs, make sure you are above wind and evacuate above wind. (do note, that gas leaking under pressure can travel against the wind for a certain distance)
One thing about train derailments (or big fires in industrial areas) is knowing which way the prevailing wind blows. Some of these train chemical leaks and fires unleash a deadly toxic stew that kill within seconds or minutes if breathed in.
If at all possible, you don't want to be downwind of the derailment or fire and you certainly don't want to head in that direction if under an evac.
Aside from the masks that others have mentioned, a typical urban centric BOB should suffice and will allow you to live out of house at a hotel or family/friends home for the duration of the evac which could vary from hours to weeks.
Typically these urban BOB kits should contain personal hygiene products, essential meds, OTC meds, a couple of changes of clothes which includes work clothes if required.
In addition to our BOB kits, we have a medium sized, dedicated bathroom bag that contains new toothbrushes, toothpaste, general OTC meds, deodorant, shampoo, razors, makeup (not for me!) TP, towels, washcloths and so on. The reason for this bag is so that if we ever have to do a hasty evac to a family or friends home for any duration, we won't have to go out and purchase many of these items or be a burden on our hosts to supply us with.
Some of these hazardous materials displace oxygen -- a filter on a gas mask (military or otherwise) won't help when there's no oxygen in the environment to breathe. For a variety of scenarios (depending on the HAZMAT), you'd have to bring your own air -- a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) like firefighters and HAZMAT techs wear would be indicated.
SCBA will protect you against a wider gamut of HAZMAT threats than a gas mask, but the downside is that you need some infrastructure to change and refill bottles -- and with both methods, how do you change the filter or bottle without a safe zone or decontamination facilities? For all practical purposes, you'd have to be out of the hot zone before it becomes necessary, and since you can burn through a 30 minute SCBA bottle (just for an example) in 15 minutes depending on how much physical activity you're doing, it doesn't buy you a whole lot of time.
So you can certainly buy a gas mask, or SCBA, for your own personal use. You can even find them on Ebay.
But I guess what I'm having trouble picturing is what sort of scenario do you envision where one of these would save you, where otherwise you would have perished?
Some considerations:
1. Will it be immediately accessible at all times? (ie, while you're grocery shopping?)
2. How will you be reliably warned that you'd need to don the gear? If the train derails right next to your house, grabbing your go-bag, getting in the car and leaving immediately would likely allow you to escape the immediate danger even without a gas mask or SCBA. We train to put our bunker gear and SCBA on in less than 2 minutes, and that's sitting there in front of me -- but I could also be 2 miles down the road in that amount of time (especially if other people aren't as quick to react and never prepared or don't know what to do -- so traffic is probably not such a major issue yet)
3. If it derails further up or down the rail and you can hear or see indications that it has derailed in the distance (like a cloud or smoke rising), the same applies. If it's too far to hear and you're downwind and out shopping and your only indication is people start falling out around you -- it doesn't do much good then either.
4. Will your loved ones have gear too?
It would take an awfully particular set of circumstances for this gear to be useful, and it would have significant caveats and limitations to consider. If, in your mind, the odds of you needing it outweigh the likelihood that you would die without it then by all means go for it, but your time and money might be better spent in other areas. Having enough money on hand for you and your family to stay in a hotel for a week during an evacuation would put you a step ahead of most people.
A full face respirator with a "gets most everything" cartridge and filter combination could be useful. But it could also put you in danger of false confidence, and so increase your risk.
It's unlikely you will know exactly what you are dealing with. That's why (to my mind) hardening a residence for effective sheltering in place is really important in any such preparations.
Depends... Sometimes it's know which chemicals are shipped on a railroad, so sometimes it's worth checking that out.
Easier said than done. At least since the Lac Megantic runaway train disaster in Quebec in 2013, there's been a debate raging in out the necessity and safety of goods carried by rail - and the safety of the areas those trains travel through. The knowledge of what's being carried on those trains has been deemed national security.
Here's the wikki entry for that disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A9gantic_rail_disaster
I'm not getting close enough to the scene to read the placard. BTW: the new 2016 Emergency Resonse Handbook has just been issued. We received ours on the boat last week.
The charcoal commercial filter will protect you against all of those chemicals. The Caustic Soda will shorten the cartridge's lifespan so discard those filters from your mask as soon as you're clear of the scene.
My take is as following; I have a FFP2 (european version of a N95) mask with a additional charcoal layer in it, which i carry everyday. The protection provided is limited. Reasons: - It folds flat and is small and light enough so I do actually carry it everywhere. A full BA set is not practical and I simply won't carry them with me. - If a full BA set is needed, you will probably need protective clothing too. Won't carry that with me everyday either. - If it's not good enough, I’m probably screwed anyways. - Really inexpensive.
Also note; that you cannot just take off your PPE. If you got though a heavily contaminated zone, you will need to be decontaminated. If you are not wearing PPE clothing, just regular stuff. Removing clothing can remove 90% of the contamination. However when removing contaminated clothing, never remove by pulling over your head, as this introduces contaminated to your mouth, nose and eyes.
Thanks, I went to the Sundstrom Safety site and looked at the pdf's of the various chemical cartridges and the diagrams all looked the same -- mostly activated carbon. Chemical cartridge SR 232, OV/SD/CL/HC/HF cartridge leaflet pdf is one. They all look similar, but who knows what else is in there.
Fortunately, all I ever use is the particle filter and all ever had to replace is a couple pre-filters which are cheap. As for all the chemicals listed, avoidance is my first choice and for me living where I live that's not a problem. No tracks within many miles -- then again, an interstate is just up the street...
Tjin: I read your old blog entry on masks. The disposable, folds flat, charcoal added , particulate welding mask is an attractive option. I tried to Google it. Too many possibilities to ID your model. Please supply a manufacturer and a model number. Thanx in advance.
Tjin: I read your old blog entry on masks. The disposable, folds flat, charcoal added , particulate welding mask is an attractive option. I tried to Google it. Too many possibilities to ID your model. Please supply a manufacturer and a model number. Thanx in advance.
