Workshop in Alberton educates teams about chemical spills

ALBERTON – Dozens of stakeholders from across the state gathered at a series of locations near Alberton last weekend to learn what was done right and what could be done better in the future if the events of April 11, 1996 were to repeat themselves.

In the early morning hours of April 11, 1996 not far from Alberton, a Montana Rail Link train carrying chlorine derailed causing a rupture in one of the cars and the subsequent leak of the toxic substance.

One person was killed due to chlorine inhalation. Over one hundred people were injured and a thousand people were evacuated, mostly from Alberton. Interstate 90 was shut down for 19 days while clean up crews worked the scene making this the longest shutdown of an interstate in U.S. history.. The accident has been described as one of the largest chemical spills due to a train derailment in the history of the United States.

The purpose of Saturday’s events in and around Alberton was to learn from the response to and clean up of the accident and to remember the lessons that were learned that day. Hosted by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) and the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, the three day series of activities was described by officials as a workshop and staff ride to educate and inform incident management teams from across the state of Montana in dealing with situations similar to the spill near Alberton and to guide them through the process of working with local governments in the event of an accident.

One person on hand to help educate those in attendance was Missoula resident John Fidler. Fidler has a unique knowledge of the events that transpired immediately after the spill because he was there. He and other members of the DNRC Hazardous Materials Team were one of the first responders to the scene of the accident. Fidler said last weekend’s events would hopefully provide participants the opportunity to learn from his and other first responders’ experience.

“We are using this incident so these people from all over the state can learn what to do to handle incidents like this,” Fidler said. “This type of situation is out of the scope of normal day-to-day operations. Normally, they are dealing with wildfire situations but that is not the only thing that happens out here. It’s always better to learn before something happens and have relationships with other agencies so if something does happen, you are ready to go.”

Fidler said he spent almost three weeks at the scene back in April of 1996 sleeping in his car while the team attempted to clean up the spill and monitor environmental conditions in the surrounding area including the town of Alberton and Interstate 90. He said, despite the serious nature of the accident and the loss of life, had it not been for the high level of cooperation and coordination between multiple agencies to work the problem, the results could have been much worse.

“Having those relationships built up when this thing went down, was huge,” Fidler said. “We were contacted quickly and responded quickly.”

DNRC Public Relations Specialist Jordan Koppen said the weekend’s activities went well and he was encouraged by the level of participation from teams from all over the state of Montana. He said approximately 55 people took part in the workshop and staff ride.

“They are comparing ideas through the scenario and seeing what decisions they would make if they were in the shoes of the people who responded in 1996,” Koppen said. “The staff ride is to look back in time to see how to make decisions quickly.”