We are so grateful to have been able to participate in a trail derailment/hazmat exercise this week. We appreciate the efforts of Nassau County Emergency Management, CSX Transportation and all the other agencies that have worked hard for the last year to coordinate this event. Below is a summary of the training written by Nassau County Emergency Management. We've also added a handful of photos we captured during the 3-day exercise.
SUMMARY FROM NASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
This week CSX Transportation came to Nassau County to train first responders on how to handle railcar hazmat incidents. This training took almost a year to plan and execute, so we are grateful to CSX for making this happen! We would also like to extend a special thanks to Blue Linx for being the host site location; none of this would have been possible without their partnership.
Nassau County Fire Rescue, Baker County Fire Rescue, City of Fernandina Beach Fire Department, Kingsland Fire Department, Kings Bay Fire Department, Camden County Fire Rescue, and Charlton County Fire Rescue all participated in the training from CSX. In total, 70 firefighters received hands on training to better prepare them for a real world incident in our region.
While they were training in the field, the EOC ran a tabletop exercise to test our capabilities if this was to happen in Nassau County. Phil Eddins, from PEP Training Solutions, facilitated this exercise and challenged us to think through the different aspects of response including public information, traffic and evacuation plans, public health, and more!
We would like to thank all of the stakeholders that came to participate and observe in this exercise - Our Board of County Commissioners, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, Nassau County Fire Rescue, Nassau County Health Department, Baptist Medical Centers, UF Health, City of Fernandina Beach Fire Department, City of Fernandina Beach Police Department, The National Weather Service, Camden County Emergency Management, Baker County Emergency Management, and all the county employees that would fill our incident management team positions during an incident -This whole community approach is essential to the successful response and recovery of an incident like this.