1 / 11

Lessons Learned from the 9/16/2011 BNSF South Rail Yard Incident in Amarillo, Texas

Lessons Learned from the 9/16/2011 BNSF South Rail Yard Incident in Amarillo, Texas. Photo by Karla Weatherly. Amarillo Demographics. City of Amarillo: Population: 190,695 Downtown Business District: ~20,000 General Demographics… regional hub for: Banking Health & Medical Education

charis
Download Presentation

Lessons Learned from the 9/16/2011 BNSF South Rail Yard Incident in Amarillo, Texas

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Lessons Learned from the 9/16/2011 BNSF South Rail Yard Incident in Amarillo, Texas Photo by Karla Weatherly

  2. Amarillo Demographics • City of Amarillo: • Population: 190,695 • Downtown Business District: ~20,000 • General Demographics… regional hub for: • Banking • Health & Medical • Education • Transportation • Agriculture

  3. Hazardous Materials: Potter & Randall Counties, Texas HAZMAT Fixed Facilities: 225 Tier II Facilities 17 RMP Facilities El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion - Bushland HAZMAT Transportation: Highways, Railroads, Pipelines Diesel Tanker Rollover

  4. BNSF Operations in Amarillo • Two Major Rail Yard Operations: • North Yard (previous Burlington Northern Yard) • South Yard (previous Santa Fe Yard) • 800-1,300 Railcars in yards at any given time • Mainline Tracks Through Amarillo: • Servicing North/South & East/West Rail Traffic • 60-120 Trains Daily • Average of 80-100 Railcars per Train • Significant Transport of Hazardous Materials: • Average of 75 inhalation hazard railcars through Amarillo weekly. Santa Fe Railroad: Amarillo Yard, circa 1943

  5. View from Bank One Building, Downtown September 16, 2011… At approximately 11:27 a.m., an incident occurred in the BNSF South Rail Yard that resulted in a tanker car loaded with Isopentane (UN1265) conflagrating. View from I-40/I-27 Interchange Photo by Wes Reeves Photo by Wrustler Weston View from Head Start School/Day Care Photo by Karla Weatherly

  6. Major Impacts & Response • 3 BNSF workers suffered smoke inhalation with two transported to local hospital • Damaged/destroyed 28 rail cars and caused significant damage to the tracks (estimated $1.5 million) • Ceased rail yard operations for ~12 hours (south yard) • Evacuation of ¼ mile in all directions with ½ mile shelter-in-place downwind • Expanded unified command established between AFD/APD with BNSF representatives • EOC activated to provide coordination with State and Federal agency representatives

  7. Concrete Hopper Car Isopentane Railcar Molton Sulfur Railcars Sodium Hydroxide Railcar BNSF South Railyard… 09/16/2011 Photo by Michael Norris / Amarillo Globe-News

  8. Incident Impacts: • BNSF Rail Yard • Industrial Area • Residential Area • Maverick Club • Head Start School • Interstate-40 • COA Service Center • AECC/EOC • City Hall • Civic Center • Potentially 20,000 • People Incident Geography • ERG Isolation Zone (yellow circle) • Railcar Involved in Fire: • Isopentane: ERG 128 ½ Mile • Sulfur (Molten): ERG 133 ½ Mile

  9. Lessons Learned • Emergency Response Delays/Confusion • Public Calls to 9-1-1 Varied Widely • Difficult/Limited Access to Incident Scene • Delays in Unifying Command • BNSF Coordination Improvements: • Planning Coordination Out-of-Date • Contact Information Out-of-Date • BNSF Assembly Points Not Communicated • NWS Plume Model Sharing • Public Protective Actions • Potential Impacts on Critical Infrastructure • Communication to Public/Internal Organization • Emergency Public Information

  10. Improvement Plans • Improve BNSF Coordination: • Emergency Plans & Contact Information Updated (annual review incorporated into exercise program) • BNSF Assembly Points Simplified & Mapped Out • Invited to Join Potter & Randall LEPC (listed in BNSF Plan) • Exercise & Training Program: • Schedule Annual Tabletop Exercise (February) • Conduct Periodic Railcar Training (first offering in March 2012 with 100 participants) • Enhancements to Information Tools: • Improved Coordination & Information Sharing with NWS (specifically use of the HySplit plume model) • Enhanced Public Notification Tools: • NIXLE and Resolve to Be Ready

  11. http://oem.amarillo.gov/ (806) 378-3004

More Related