ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown is set to bank $16,000 from Norfolk Southern to outfit the city’s fire department with equipment to combat hazardous materials.
Norfolk Southern is distributing the money through its “Safety First” grant program, which the railroad corporation says is meant to “support organizations that directly provide safety services or operate programs that promote safe behavior” along its 22-state network of tracks.
The grant will allow officials to buy firefighting foam and related equipment “to support operations at a hydrocarbon fuel fire that may occur on the railway” that runs through Allentown, according to city officials.
Hydrocarbon fuels include fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel and kerosene, as well as biofuel and synthetic fuels.
Norfolk Southern’s “Safety First” grant payout comes less than three weeks after three of the company’s trains collided in the Steel City section of nearby Lower Saucon Township.
Nine rail cars and two locomotives jumped the tracks on March 2, causing diesel fuel to leak into the Lehigh River, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ruben Payan.
“The potential for something like that to happen here is real."Allentown Fire Chief Efrain Agosto on the recent Steel City derailment
Three derailed cars had been hauling hazardous materials — ethanol and butane — but were empty and only contained residue at the time of the crash.
The crash east of Allentown and Bethlehem prompted a large response from more than a dozen emergency agencies in Northampton and Lehigh counties.
No injuries were reported among train crew members or first responders, authorities said.
A preliminary report on the investigation is expected to soon be released by the NTSB.
Making the job 'a little safer'
Allentown firefighters have long trained for a railroad-related emergency, Fire Chief Efrain Agosto told LehighValleyNews.com.
“The potential for something like that to happen here is real,” Agosto said, with Norfolk Southern operating a rail yard along River Drive in East Allentown and miles of tracks running through the city.
The fire department has a hazardous-materials team that regularly meets with representatives from Norfolk Southern to “get a better understanding” of what firefighters might need in an emergency.
The rail corporation offered the grant before the derailment in Steel City, he said.
That grant will help the department purchase firefighting foam that doesn’t contain harmful PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” do not breakdown in the environment, and prolonged exposure to them can trigger negative health effects, including thyroid and immune problems and cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Agosto called it a “huge step” that PFAS are starting to be eliminated from foam and firefighters’ turnout gear.
“It's a really good thing that we're starting to look at,” Agosto said, noting it would make the job just “a little safer.”
The International Association of Fire Fighters says about two-thirds of all firefighters who died between 2002 and 2019 died from cancer.
