[Scan-DC] A story of cooperation, coordination and competence in Somerset County

[Alan Henney]

The Daily American (Somerset, Pennsylvania)

OPINION

A story of cooperation, coordination and competence in Somerset County

Staff Writer
April 24, 2017 Monday

By ROGER SNYDER

One thing you can say about Somerset County - "A railroad runs through it." In fact, the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's main line has crested the Allegheny Mountains at Sand Patch (east of Meyersdale) for the past 150 years. It was those mountains and that railroad that combined to test men and their machines on April 18.

It was a pleasant early evening at the former Mance Post Office (decommissioned in 1925). I was relaxing in the side yard after a hard day of trout fishing in nearby Wills Creek as a westbound freight train passed by, laboring up the steep grade toward Sand Patch tunnel. It was a little before 7 p.m.; the train was CSX Q375.

As the rear of the train approached, I noticed what appeared to be two small fires in the leaves on the far side of the train. Indeed, as the last car cleared my view, there were two bushel-basket sized fires burning brightly and enlarging quickly, fanned by a brisk south wind. Glancing upgrade toward the rear of the train, I was startled to see still a third fire along a steep fill. My relaxation and the tranquility of the moment were extinguished instantly.

What to do? A 911 call was obvious, so it was quickly made around 7:03 p.m. "Trackside brush fires off Mance Road in Northampton Township," I answered to the question: "What is your emergency?" I then naively suggested that "A brush truck from Berlin should do the job." After hanging up, I looked down the Wills Creek valley toward Philson and the chilling view reminded me of a steam engine pulling a heavy freight upgrade. Several plumes of smoke rose from the forest edges along the tracks. A second 911 call reported the growing magnitude of the problem......One brush truck would not do.

I considered grabbing a rake to attack the nearby fires before help arrived, but an artificial hip and a 74 year old body urged otherwise. Besides, these fires were contained by the rather small combustible areas to which they could spread. So I proceeded to call the CSX Railroad to alert them to the fire-breathing train headed west toward Meyersdale. I used the emergency 800 number printed on a placard on the crossing post. A few minutes later, listening to a railroad scanner, I heard the CSX dispatcher in Baltimore telling the offending train to stop and check things out. I learned later that this was done near Garrett.

The Berlin Volunteer Fire Department's first piece of equipment arrived at 7:25 p.m., a very good response time from the firehouse 7.2 miles to the north. Berlin's tanker arrived two minutes later and immediately deployed a small hose line to douse the three fires nearby. However, the smoke rising up and down the railroad foretold of much more work ahead as dusk turned to night.

The Berlin Fire Chief set up a command post across the tracks from the old Post Office where he was joined by Meyersdale and Garrett personnel who were called in as mutual aid. The first Meyersdale equipment arrived at 7:43 p.m. A CSX Railroad employee also drove to the command center to coordinate train traffic with the firefighting efforts being waged for more than two miles trackside from Philson to Manila (just east of the Sand Patch tunnel).

Soon, Brush Creek Road leading down to Mance from PA 160 and Philson Road, paralleling the railroad toward the small hamlet of Philson, were alive with arriving and redeploying fire apparatus, each followed by several volunteers in their own vehicles, blue lights flashing. In total, 18 brush fires had been started along the railroad by red-hot chunks of carbon being belched from the exhaust stack of a diesel locomotive working hard up the mountain. This was more akin to the days when steam engines ruled Sand Patch grade. The fires were easily kindled in the powdery dry leaves, not uncommon in the spring.

Fortunately, there were no eastbound trains nearby, but several westbound trains were traveling up from Cumberland. The dispatcher switched five or six trains from the number one track to number two at Hyndman, thus moving them away from the fires and leaving room for the fire personnel who were forced to use a CSX gravel service road right along the tracks, the only access to the fires.

A second CSX employee positioned himself near the east end of the fires and communicated by radio with his counterpart at the Mance command post. The trains, including Amtrak's Capitol Limited, were safely talked by the fires at 10 mph. The railroad remained fluid as the fires were put out.

By 10 p.m., three hours after the fires started, the 30+ acre "big one" remained the only trouble spot. It continued to burn up a very steep slope to the north, still pushed by a south breeze. However, it was now being contained by men working down from the Stahl farm on top of the hill. A Berlin ambulance had been stationed at the command center in case of any injuries.

Along about midnight, the fires were out and some mopping up was being done. This complex series of fires had been fought by an excellent coordinated effort among three volunteer fire companies and the CSX Railroad. State forestry personnel also assisted during the latter stages. Many volunteers had labored into the night in service to the safety of both people and property. They would report to their day jobs tired and sore the next morning. I saw rural America at its best on Tuesday evening.

(Roger Snyder actually lives in Manassas, Virginia, but is retired and travels to Mance whenever he can to pursue two of his hobbies: trains & trout. He stays at his Mance Training Camp and enjoys breakfast at the G.I. Dayroom in Meyersdale.)