Tank car specialist course certified by DHS/FEMA
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Tank Car Specialist course, an emergency response training and exercise regimen provided by the Security and Emergency Response Training Center (SERTC), is the first to be certified by the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“With the ongoing potential of HazMat incidents, this long-awaited milestone for SERTC will assist in making response training more readily available to the emergency response community,” said Mike Cook, general manager of SERTC, in a statement.
The Tank Car Specialist course develops the specific fundamentals and skills associated with emergency response to railroad tank car incidents involving hazardous materials (HazMat) and/or weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The training provides detailed technical information combined with extensive hands-on practice of the actions and appropriate responses with simulated large-scale HazMat/WMD incidents. This specialist level course covers the highly technical skills and knowledge necessary for responding to hazardous materials in a rail transportation environment. The skills required at this level are significantly beyond those of a hazardous material technician, SERTC says.
Pueblo, Colo.-based SERTC is now enrolling emergency responders for hazardous material training through a federally funded program that provides broad access to intensive training at its training facility located at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo. Registration for training is available online at www.sertc.org.
