PUEBLO, Colo. — MxV Rail’s Security and Emergency Response Training Center is expanding to include first responder training for incidents involving alternative fuels and electric vehicles.
SERTC will begin offering the new training in November thanks to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, MxV Rail announced on Monday.
SERTC recently broke ground on a new training area, expanding the flammable liquids emergency response course to include alternative fuels and electric vehicle emergency response. The Alternative Fuels and Flammable Incident Response and Management (AFFIRM) course was recently approved by FEMA’s National Training and Education (NTED) division for development as a fully funded grant program. As with all the training offered in the NTED catalog, participants’ travel, transportation, lodging, meals, and course costs are included.
The AFFIRM program will continue SERTC’s tradition of offering the most realistic, hands-on transportation and hazmat training experience possible. All current resident courses are a near 50/50 split of classroom and field exercises, and the AFFIRM course will follow suit. SERTC is partnering with industry leaders Hazard3, EPC, and members of the Association of American Railroads to develop relevant classroom materials.
The training will include live fires on four different scenarios including a 750-foot-long mixed commodity derailment, an industrial loading facility with rail and highway containers, a 1600-barrel storage tank battery, and a live EV fire scenario.
Two “pilot” courses will be held this year beginning the weeks of Nov. 18 and Dec. 16. Pilot courses will be used as full-scale tests to gather input on the course. After gathering input and making the appropriate changes, the course will go through the accessibility certification process and then be added to SERTC’s regular course schedule, beginning in April 2025.
More information is available online.
SERTC has trained more than 80,000 responders since 1985 and is a division of MxV Learning Institute and MxV Rail, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads.
