CA-VNC-FF near miss with Train on River Incident

[PREVENT12]

Blue Sheet (396 K pdf file)
Text below:



VENTURA COUNTY
FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

SAR Preliminary Briefing
(Blue Sheet)

River Incident
Incident # 12-0044196
July 30, 2012


This Preliminary Summary Report is intended as an aid in accident prevention
and to provide factual information from the first 24 hours of the accident review.
To that end it is published and distributed within a short time frame. Information
contained within may be subject to revision as further investigation is conducted,
and other reports and documents are received.

Synopsis:

While working on a vegetation fire, one firefighter was involved in a near miss
incident. The firefighter was nearly hit by an oncoming train during the initial
attack on the fire.

Narrative:

On July 30, 2012 at 17:15, Oxnard Engine 64 and Ventura County Medic Engine
51 responded to a vegetation fire reported in the river bottom at Hwy 101 and
Ventura Road. Oxnard Engine 64 reported a fire in the middle of the Santa Clara
river bottom in heavy brush and requested a first alarm brush response. ME 51
and E64 extended hose lines to the fire in the river bottom approximately 500’
from the road. At 17:28, Oxnard Battalion 61 arrived on scene and took
command, he requested the closure of railway via FCC. At 17:31, Union Pacific
gave confirmation of railway closure and asked to be advised when closure could
be lifted. At 17:39, B61 advised incident was in County jurisdiction and also
requested a railway representative to inspect the track for possible damage. At
17:49, Ventura County Battalion 5 arrived on scene and assumed command. B5
assigned B61 to Operations. B61 walked the trestle bridge to get a view of the
fire. He arrived at the area of the fire and was approximately 500 ft. to the west
of Ventura Road. He identified a train on the tracks east of his location and it
appeared to him the train had stopped at that location. He gave a second look at
the train and identified it as a train possibly moving slowly. He radioed on the
tactical channel for confirmation the tracks were shutdown. He then recognized
the train was moving at a high rate of speed and made a decision to move
toward the train to an open alcove alongside the tracks. He laid down and held
on to a fence post as the train passed. At 18:11, northbound Amtrak stopped on
the tracks and believed they had hit a firefighter. Ventura City Battalion 10 stated
all fire personnel were fine.

Recommendations:

• Continuously evaluate the need to work in railway right-of-way.
• Consider posting lookouts along railway.
• Emphasize clear communication when specifying railway closures.

[bcjack]

Good heads up on the firefighter's part. Glad to hear it turned out ok.

[arff]

Would this indicate that Amtrak doesn't communicate with track owners, or owners with Amtrak ?

If UP said trck was down, signals should have been red therefore trains not moving. I hope there will be some answers forth coming !

Good thinking on B61's part.

[North Bay FCRet]

Sure hope we see the results of the investigation.

[norcalscan]

As a train radio buff who's ridden Amtrak through there, unlike the Vandenberg AFB area where the train is very isolated from UPRR radio signals, Amtrak is easily in communication with the UPRR dispatcher along this stretch. I've noticed in my radio monitoring over the years that there can be a delay of 15-20min between a police officer or firefighter making the initial request to shut the tracks down, to actually hearing the UPRR dispatcher on their system with related traffic. Of course regardless of radio, signals can go red instantly. In 18min, that moving Amtrak could have passed 3-5 signals. I have heard a UPRR Police Agent shut an imminent train down when he heard over his own scanner a local incident near the tracks and hopped on railroad and directed the train to stop until further notice and to notify dispatch of his stop.

Glad they're safe, and hopefully no new turnouts are needed. I would have filled my boots...

[smokeybehr]

There is some blame to go around, but most of it lies with the railroad for this incident. Here's my analysis of what should be changed:

1. Engines and Chief's vehicles should have maps with railroad mileposts. A simple double line denoting the tracks with a single perpendicular line denoting the road crossing or other feature with a milepost number. A fancy list would have crossing DOT numbers and siding/block names.

2. All railroad features have a milepost attached to them. Shutting down a section of rail on either side is as simple as saying to the railroad "I need the tracks shut down from milepost 183 to milepost 185 for fire personnel operating in the area until further notice."

3. An agreement between the railroad and the fire agency should be in place to have the railroad's channels programmed into the radio, and the chiefs and captains should be taught how to talk to the train crew.

I put together a primer on how to protect fire operations around railroads several years ago. I think I'm going to have to dig that up and post it on the relevant lists and boards, to make sure that everyone stays safe.

[Bluezebra]

Was this an Amtrak Starlight, Surfliner or Metrolink train?

[dfandrews]

The reason that there was a communications disconnect was that the location was passed through channels as "east end of Santa Clara River bridge, at Ventura Road". The railroad deals with north and south directions on this line (UP, Santa Barbara Subdivision) not east-west (sorry SP fans), and Ventura Road passes under the railroad. For us, it's a landmark we can identify. For the railroad, it is not.

So, when UPRR dispatchers (Omaha) tried to correlate information, the only "Ventura" they had was across the river in the City of Ventura. So the train crew was given an incorrect milepost number miles away. (24 hrs prior, Ventura County Fire Dept had responded to a fire in the Ventura River several miles to the north/west, near another railroad bridge on the UP minline. This is perhaps a pertinent fact).

The battalion chief on the bridge had been assured, twice, that rail traffic was stopped, otherwise he would have posted fire personnel 1½-2 miles down the track in both directions to flag trains.

We have, within the last 24 hrs, developed and distributed a cross-reference list indicating street crossings, underpasses, bridges, etc., with corresponding railroad mileposts and other railroad-specific naming. We have two railroads within our jurisdiction, so some railroad company specific info was included.

Regarding direct communications on the railroad's frequency: we have investigated doing that, but are treading lightly forward in the interface with UPRR (a 30,000 mile long company with contact with a plethora of agencies with different levels of expertise and professional training), with FCC, and with FRA.

Also, to make direct contact with a UP dispatcher on their frequency, you need a radio with the ability to "tone up" the dispatcher, i.e. have a "dispatcher-call-button", unless the dispatcher happens to already be on the frequency in this area. Typically, the dispatchers nowdays have authority over multiple sections of track in sometimes diverse areas, using multiple radio channels/frequencies, so they must be "toned".

[PREVENT12]

One wonders if the UPRR has "Santa Clara River Bridge" on their maps? I would think they know where all of their bridges are. It is the only RR bridge on an active line that crosses the "Santa Clara River" in Ventura County. Reference to "Ventura Road" should not have affected the location of the Santa Clara River bridge. It a quite a distance away from the "Ventura River" The key word for the UPRR was the name of the river that the bridge was crossing. If not sure, they should have looked at a ventura county map or just Google maped it. Not hard to find as it is much bigger and wider than the "Ventura River". Aside from that, communications is always a critical item and anything we can do to provide additional location marker info would certainly help. Also, anytime you are working directly adjacent to or on the RR, lookouts and or track clsoure officer should be posted well in advance of the incident location.

Another thought: The fire was directly under the bridge and several ties were on fire. Why did the train continue thru the fire area instead of stopping before to make sure it was safe??? Maybe some education to train engines is needed too.

[firefish]

Regardless of what happens with the radio traffic, there are ways to stop a train. You can put flares on the track, and the train is supposed to stop. Remember that it takes a while to stop a train, so the flares can't be right at your scene. You can also activate the CTCC block controlled lighting by completing the circuit for the block signals by laying something metal across the tracks to change the block signals to red. Trains are supposed to brake if the signals are red. If you do any of these things, you still need to contact the railroad and let them know you need track stoppage. One thing that needs to be said, it is not uncommon for a train to stop, then proceed slowly if they have a red light with no idea what it is from and this is communicated through their dispatch. I have found that U.P. has been very interested in education and information sharing in regards to railroad safety. If you have a railine through your roll area, contact them and they will give classes on rail line safety, how to shut down engines, etc... They have money set aside through federal programs to pay for classes to emergency providers.