HOULTON, Maine — First responders from police, fire and ambulance departments from Orono to Madawaska gathered with state and county emergency management officials here over the weekend to train for a dangerous chemical spill from a possible terrorist attack on a rail car.
Officials from the Maine Emergency Management Agency, Aroostook Emergency Management Agency and New Brunswick Southern Railway conducted the hazmat exercise, which also included members of the Maine National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna said participants were acting out a scenario in which chemicals had spilled inside a rail car in an apparent terrorist plot to disrupt rail service.
McKenna said that police, firefighters and other first responders took turns evaluating the scene, triaging victims, identifying the chemicals and taking other action in the event that this was a real event.
Since Saturday’s exercise involved a terrorist plot, McKenna said participants also called in the Department of Homeland Security.
McKenna said it is not uncommon for railcars to be hauling chemicals through the area. He said that a chemical leak in a rail car was chosen because “it was just something that they felt was realistic to the area” and not because of the disastrous 2013 oil train crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The now insolvent Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway was operating the train at the time of the crash.
“All of these agencies go back to their hometowns and practice these skills on their own,” said McKenna. “They know how to respond to hazmat incidents on their own in their communities and things. But it is important to get together and practice and have a layering system so if these events ever do happen, the response is just instant. We all know who does what.”
