WOLF POINT, Mont. (AP) — It’s tough to miss the trainshauling crude oil out of the Northern
Plains. They are growing morefrequent by the day, mile-long processions of black tank cars thatrumble
through wheat fields and towns, along rivers and national parks.Ascommon as they have become across the
U.S. and Canada, officials indozens of towns and cities where the oil trains travel say they
areconcerned with the possibility of a major derailment, spill orexplosion, while their level of
preparation varies widely.Stokingthose fears was the July crash of a crude train from the Bakken
oilpatch in Lac Megantic, Quebec — not far from the Maine border — thatkilled 47 people. A Nov. 8 train
derailment in rural Alabama whereseveral oil cars exploded reinforced them."It’s a grave
concern,"said Dan Sietsema, the emergency coordinator in northeastern Montana’sRoosevelt County,
where oil trains now pass regularly through the countyseat of Wolf Point. "It has the ability to
wipe out a town like WolfPoint."The number of carloads hauled by U.S. railroads has surgedin recent
years, from 10,840 in 2009 to a projected 400,000 this year.Despitethe increase, the rate of accidents
has stayed relatively steady. AnAssociated Press review of federal hazardous material accident
recordsshow most of those incidents involved small quantities of oil.Railroadssay 99.997 percent of
hazardous materials shipments reach destinationssafely. Representatives said they work hard to prevent
accidents andmake sure emergency responders are prepared, by training about 20,000firefighters and
others annually."It’s not something to be afraid of," said Union Pacific CEO Jack Koraleski.
He said there isn’t a safer option than rail.Federalofficials who oversee railroads said they’ve
responded to the boom inoil trains by beefing up rail car inspections in oil-producing statessuch as
North Dakota. Tougher safety standards are being considered forthe tank cars that carry oil.But the
accident records kept by theU.S. Department of Transportation point to the daunting size of thattask.
Oil trains are now active in virtually every corner of thecountry, and since 2008, crude releases from
rail cars have beenreported in 29 states.The potential for a major accident loomsominously for emergency
officials. Urban areas and towns near railroadfacilities are better prepared, while rural officials know
they may beon their own in the first crucial hours after an accident.NewCastle County, Del., has
extensive resources and well-trainedfirefighters because it is home to an oil refinery and a complex
ofchemical manufacturing plants.County emergency managementcoordinator Dave Carpenter said the industry
has worked closely withofficials to improve emergency response since an incident in 1984, sohe’s not
especially concerned about the crude oil shipments."We’re probably one of the more-prepared places
in the nation," Carpenter said.Buteven in another relatively well-equipped area, like Little Rock,
Ark.,Pulaski County emergency manager Andy Traffanstedt said he worries that afiery accident like the
one in Quebec could overwhelm firefighters."Sometimesthings are so catastrophic that you can’t ever
get ahead of it," hesaid, even though his county has three hazardous materials teams and aUnion
Pacific rail yard with more resources nearby.Trains headedwest out of the Bakken oil patch in North
Dakota snake their way alongthe Missouri River and slice through towns large and small beforecrawling
over the Continental Divide at Glacier National Park to reachcoastal refineries.Like spokes on a wheel,
others head south to the Gulf, east to New York and Pennsylvania, north into Canada.Oneof the first
places trains heading west pass through is Wolf Point, anagricultural town of about 2,600 people on the
Fort Peck IndianReservation.On a line historically dominated by grain and freightshipments, crude trains
are now a daily sight. Horns announce theirapproach as locomotives pulling 3 million gallons of crude
per shipmentpass just a block from the town’s business district and only yards fromthe public high
school.Emergency officials in Montana and beyond generally praised the railroad industry’s
responsiveness to derailments.BurlingtonNorthern Santa Fe Railway, the dominant railroad in the
Bakken,maintains its own hazardous materials emergency crews, totaling morethan 220 personnel at 66
sites scattered across the country. The othermajor railroads take similar precautions and offer
specialized trainingto local firefighters.Yet corporate responsibility can only do somuch, said
Sietsema, who noted that the last significant derailment inhis county came when a freight train hit a
truck at a road crossing."Burlington Northern is pretty much Johnny on the spot," he said.
"But BN can only control so much."Likemost rural communities, Wolf Point has an all-volunteer
firedepartment. The nearest hazardous materials teams are stationed on theother side of the state, six
to eight hours away. There’s no containmentboom on hand if oil entered one of the Missouri River
tributariescrossed by the rail line.As for controlling an oil-fueled fire,Wolf Point’s fire department
would use up its supply of specialized foamin a matter of minutes, said Chris Dschaak, Wolf Point’s
mayor-electand also secretary-treasurer of the local fire department.Similarlimitations exist for fire
departments across the U.S., said AlanFinklestein, a fire marshal in Ohio who conducts hazardous
materialstraining for government agencies and first responders.He said theproblem has been compounded by
cutbacks in emergency personnel andtraining in recent years due to the ailing economy.Greg Rhoads,
arailroad emergency preparedness consultant and former CSX employee,said knowing what rail traffic is
passing through a community andunderstanding the potential risks is crucial to being prepared.Rhoadssaid
he doesn’t think any community could handle a disaster like theone that unfolded in Quebec last July,
but every fire department, evensmall ones, can do some things to prepare and develop a basic
plan."If you have 10, 15, 20 railcars on fire, it would challenge Denver, Chicago or any major fire
department," Rhoads said.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.