Willmar firefighters up for more than 40 hours fighting garage fire, then train derailment fire

Apr. 5—WILLMAR

— Just 12 short minutes after battling a garage fire in Willmar, the

Willmar Fire Department

was dispatched to assist with the

BNSF Railway

train derailment in

Raymond

where rail cars filled with ethanol were on fire, according to Willmar Fire Chief Frank Hanson.

"(I) pretty much just changed clothes and then this page went off," he told

Willmar City Council

Monday while recapping the local department's response to the derailment.

He said that many Willmar firefighters, including himself, were up for more than about 40 hours fighting the garage fire and then the fire from the train derailment. "I can't say enough about how awesome everybody is there."

"They made us proud," said Willmar Mayor Doug Reese.

Willmar Fire Department's hazardous materials team was called to Raymond at about 1 a.m. Thursday, March 30, to respond to the train derailment.

"Our page came in as approximately 40 rail cars on the ground with a whole bunch burning, which kind of got me excited a little bit," Hanson said. "Basically, when I got to our side of Priam, I could actually see the glow of the fire, so it makes you a little bit more nervous."

His vehicle was the third vehicle to arrive at the scene and Hanson counted six rail cars on fire "with a whole bunch of them on the ground."

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

Once on scene, Deputy Chief Matt Grave met with the train engineer and the person he was training, while Hanson surveyed the scene and met with Raymond Fire Chief Brian Neal.

"We train for this frequently and hope it never happens. It happened and I can't say everything went smooth, but it went very well," he said, noting that Neal was on top of everything and the Willmar department was assisting him the best it could.

While Willmar personnel were fighting the fire and helping to evacuate people from Raymond, the

Kandiyohi County community emergency response team

, along with

Willmar Police

Chief Jim Felt and Capt. Mike Anderson, were in

Prinsburg

assisting evacuees.

"From what I understand, that went very well," Hanson said.

He told the council that BNSF Railway was on top of things immediately, with the CEO flying in from Fort Worth, Texas, and arriving on scene at about 9 a.m., and firefighters from Fort Worth and Canada that work strictly with BNSF arriving at about 10 a.m.

BNSF equipment showed up at about noon.

Reese said he was on the phone that morning with Neal and Raymond Mayor Ardell Tensen.

"They were very appreciative of the assistance, the speed at which everybody got there. How in the world did Fort Worth people and equipment get there so quick?" he asked.

"Jets," Hanson replied, noting Willmar has a good airport that is big enough to handle the jets bringing in BNSF's equipment, most of which came from North Dakota.

"It was just amazing. When you were talking to those guys, you didn't know what part of the world they were from — you could talk to a guy from Texas and then turn around and talk to a guy from Calgary, and they are here to do the same thing," Hanson said. "This is what we train for, and because we train so much and we train so well together and work so well together, it kind of came off without a hitch. No injuries, very minor cleanup after the rails are done, that type of stuff."

There were approximately 28 fire departments on the scene with about 40 vehicles, which included tanker trucks with water, some pumpers, and New London's aerial truck.

Noting the railroad and Minnesota Highway 23 are now open, Hanson said, "They lose a little bit over $1 million per hour when the rail is closed. ... The quicker they can get that open, the better."

Reese also pointed out the "wonderful response" of the community. "Everybody said it was just fantastic. They had never experienced anything like it before," he said.

Hanson agreed, stating that he was hoping to grab some chips or a candy bar when he went to Christian Reformed Church in Raymond to grab a bite to eat after not eating anything since supper the night before. Instead, he was greeted with barbecues and scalloped potatoes. He said the volunteers apologized for feeding him a lunch-type meal at 10 a.m. but he was glad for whatever they had and "it was wonderful."

"Same down in Prinsburg, I know Chief Felt ate incredible down there," Hanson added jokingly. "He had a good breakfast. ... It was good. The community came together, businesses came together, it was just an incredible experience."

"I'm glad it turned out as well as it did. I can't imagine what it would have been like if it would have been 500 feet back towards Willmar with the elevator there, that would have been a big mess," Reese said, to which Hanson agreed.

Councilor Julie Asmus asked about communication, noting that communication between all the different agencies was an issue with the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in 2007.

"Surprisingly, that went very well. We had four or five different radio channels going for different activities. Everybody stayed in their own lane ... it went smooth," Hanson said. "Knock on wood, it doesn't happen again, but I was very impressed. Obviously we learned some stuff that we can do better and that's what happens."