by railtrailbiker
Puffs of purple and white smoke billowed from beneath a derailed freight train yesterday and drifted high over the Hudson River and the U.S. Military Academy.
Police, fire and other emergency services went to the scene and quickly went about discussing and setting out their plan of action. Portions of the reservation were roadblocked by military police; a command post was set up; and hazardous-material units were deployed to the CSX rail line to investigate the matter.
While most civilians would never be allowed near the train wreck, 15-year-old Mike Pata and two of his friends calmly watched from a distance of about 10 feet.
"We're learning from what the firefighters and Hazmat teams are doing," said Pata, a freshman at Clarkstown South High School and a member of Rockland's Fire Explorers post. "And in case this happens when we're firefighters, we'll know what to do."
The drill was part of an all-day emergency operations exercise that simulated a train derailment and a hazardous chemical spill conducted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... point.html
Police, fire and other emergency services went to the scene and quickly went about discussing and setting out their plan of action. Portions of the reservation were roadblocked by military police; a command post was set up; and hazardous-material units were deployed to the CSX rail line to investigate the matter.
While most civilians would never be allowed near the train wreck, 15-year-old Mike Pata and two of his friends calmly watched from a distance of about 10 feet.
"We're learning from what the firefighters and Hazmat teams are doing," said Pata, a freshman at Clarkstown South High School and a member of Rockland's Fire Explorers post. "And in case this happens when we're firefighters, we'll know what to do."
The drill was part of an all-day emergency operations exercise that simulated a train derailment and a hazardous chemical spill conducted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... point.html
