NEW BEDFORD — Isolated, wooded stretches along the South Coast Rail line, scheduled to open to commuter trains to Boston this May, are on the radar of the region’s fire chiefs.
For more than two years, the chiefs have been planning together how to reach these spots if there’s an accident.
Their task was made a lot easier with $900,000 provided in a state transportation bond bill.
The money was spent on four utility task vehicles and equipment to be divided among fire departments in New Bedford, Fall River, Freetown, Taunton, and Berkley, as well as the Bristol County Technical Rescue team.
The Rescue Team provides specialized rescue and technical support to Bristol County departments.
Freetown, Berkley, Lakeville, and Taunton received the UTVs to get to stretches where access will be over the tracks themselves or along them. New Bedford and Fall River have vehicles with the required off-road capabilities, but received additional equipment.
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Fire trucks won’t reach isolated sites
New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said, “In getting the UTVs you have to look at the long stretches of track without grade level crossings which make accessing a train emergency difficult. You can’t drive fire trucks to it. You have to access these incidents by other means.”
Purchases also included specialized equipment to move patients away from a scene and transport equipment to a scene, as well as extrication, cutting and lifting equipment.
Kruger said, “Bristol County Fire Chiefs met and we decided how we would position the equipment.”
Kruger said they’re also developing a mutual aid policy for the communities. Training will take place over the winter, and all the equipment and preparations will be in place when the trains start rolling in the spring.
The equipment can be used for other department needs
Manpower plans are also part of the preparations. Beyond a shared-equipment pool, additional firefighters and paramedics could be needed depending on the situation, Kruger said.
He added the equipment will also be useful to the departments for the other emergency incidents they encounter.
“It’s not going to just get tucked away. It’s all equipment that we can use in other types of emergencies. It’s a win-win, all around.”
Straus, Rodrigues were major proponents
Kruger said state Transportation Committee co-chair Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Sen. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport, were the major proponents in providing the $900,000.
Another major proponent was Bill Cabral, secretary treasurer of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts.
It was also widely supported by other area legislators and local officials, he said.
Fall River Capt. Eric Caffrey said Fall River has a new forestry truck, which wasn’t part of the $900,000 purchases, that can be deployed in the event of train accidents. Fall River also has a six-wheeled, all-terrain-style vehicle that can be used.
MBTA providing more access points for Fall River
Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said the MBTA was working with the city to provide more access points to the rail line because of the lack of grade crossings along the Fall River stretch.
Freetown Fire Chief Harrie Ashley Jr. said Freetown, Berkley and Lakeville have stretches of track that are miles between grade crossings.
“That’s going to present access problems for us. There’s no place to ride down the sides of railroad tracks anymore so we have to actually go down the right of way, right down the railroad tracks to access,” he said, making the UTVs a welcome addition to their stock of vehicles.
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Chiefs very active in developing mutual aid plans
He added that the Bristol County Chiefs have been very active in developing plans and mutual aid agreements.
“We all have a plan how the equipment is going to be dispatched to incidents regardless of where it is,” Ashley said.
“We’ll be ready,” Kruger said.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Region’s fire chiefs get ready for South Coast Rail’s start in spring