By Karen Goulart The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 12, 2008 @ 02:00 AM
HINGHAM —
As last month’s train accident in Canton showed, emergency and public safety workers in a town bisected by rails must expect the unexpected.
Emergency plans were in place and training sessions held months before Greenbush trains began rolling through Hingham again in late October.
But local emergency workers will get as close to the real thing as they can on April 27 when the town plays host to a mock catastrophe at the Water Street rail crossing.
Hingham Fire Chief Mark Duff said MBTA officials about a year ago asked the town to stage a so-called mass-casualty incident.
“I jumped at the chance,” Duff said. “This is a wonderful training opportunity for us.”
The drill will involve the collision of a train, car and school bus at the downtown Hingham crossing.
As would be the case in a real accident, Hingham will receive mutual aid from Hull, Cohasset, Scituate, Hanover, Norwell, Weymouth, Braintree, State Police and MBTA police.
Duff said there will be about a dozen ambulances at the scene that will take people acting as patients to local hospitals, and emergency personnel will treat injuries at the site. Alumni of Hingham’s Citizens Police Academy and other volunteers will act as the victims of the disaster.
Police Chief Taylor Mills said the drill will bring personnel to a higher level of service and preparedness. He plans to have all department supervisors who aren’t direct participants, at the scene to observe.
Also on hand will be trained officials who will observe how the drill is carried out. Should any actual problems arise, a safety officer will be on duty and an ambulance will be at the ready.
At the completion of the drill, public safety workers from the participating towns will be given a tour of the Hingham rail tunnel to familiarize them with its layout. Hingham firefighters have already run a series of successful drills in tunnel, including the utilization of access gates and a water standpipe.
The drill will begin at 8:30 a.m. that Sunday and is expected to last about three hours. The Station Street parking lot will be used as a command center and closed to outside vehicles during the drill. Commuter rail service will be suspended between Hingham stops but buses will be available.
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