Billings firefighters took part in hands-on emergency training with BNSF Rail, climbing into tanker cars and simulating locomotive rescues to sharpen their readiness for real-world railroad incidents in Montana’s largest city.
What the Training Covered
The exercise gave firefighters direct experience with the kinds of hazards they could face during a railroad emergency. Crews descended into tanker cars to replicate rescue conditions and worked hands-on with tanker valves and fluid samples to understand what they might encounter at an active scene.
Firefighters also used a ladder truck to practice rescue techniques on a BNSF locomotive — a 4,400-horsepower diesel-electric hybrid engine that carries a considerable volume of potentially hazardous fluids. A fully loaded locomotive holds up to 5,300 gallons of diesel fuel, 400 gallons of cooling water, and another 400 gallons of engine lube oil.
Understanding the location and behavior of those fluids matters significantly when crews arrive at a crash or derailment scene. The training allowed firefighters to identify valve placements and practice containment procedures before facing those conditions under emergency pressure.
Complexity of Railroad Rescues
Department leaders highlighted the unique challenges that railroad incidents present compared to more routine emergencies. Training Chief Bryan Francis stressed the importance of hands-on exposure for preparing crews to manage live incidents effectively. “The problem is very complex because you have a tight area,” Francis said, pointing to the confined spaces inside tanker cars as a particular concern.
Capt. Ben Jares reinforced that point, explaining that any effort to extract a person from inside a tanker would require a coordinated two-team response. “Essentially we’d need the rescue team and the hazmat team for pulling somebody out of one of the tanks,” Jares said.
The dual-team requirement reflects the reality that tanker rescues carry both structural and chemical risks simultaneously — conditions that demand coordination between specialists who don’t always train together.
Why Railroad Preparedness Matters in Billings
Billings sits at a major rail corridor in Montana, with BNSF freight lines running through the heart of the region. The city’s industrial footprint, combined with heavy rail traffic carrying fuel, agricultural products, and other materials, makes railroad incident preparedness a practical priority for local emergency services rather than a theoretical exercise.
Partnerships between municipal fire departments and rail carriers have grown more common across the Mountain West as communities recognize that the equipment and training needed for rail emergencies differ substantially from standard structural or vehicle response. The fluids and gases carried by modern freight trains can complicate suppression efforts, evacuation decisions, and rescue operations in ways that standard training doesn’t always address.
By bringing firefighters onto actual BNSF equipment rather than relying on classroom instruction or diagrams, the Billings Fire Department aimed to give crews a working familiarity with real-world conditions — the dimensions of confined spaces, the location of shutoff valves, and the weight and layout of locomotive systems.
What’s Next
Department officials did not announce a specific schedule for follow-up sessions, but the training format — using real railroad equipment rather than simulations — suggests an ongoing relationship with BNSF that could support future preparedness exercises. As rail traffic patterns and cargo types continue to evolve, fire departments across Montana will likely face continued pressure to update their hazmat and rescue capabilities to match.
Emergency preparedness partnerships like this one reflect a broader trend in Montana communities working to address hazards specific to their local geography and infrastructure. Billings, as the state’s most populous city and a regional transportation hub, has particular incentive to ensure its emergency responders are equipped for the full range of incidents its rail corridor might produce.
