EAST PALESTINE — While the events of Feb. 3 cannot be undone, lessons learned from the Norfolk Southern train derailment cannot be undervalued, those involved in the response said.

For East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick, the rail disaster has been both an experiment and an experience in preparedness and a catalyst to making sure that first responders at future disasters are better equipped and trained than his team was nearly eight months ago.

On Thursday, Drabick’s vision of enhanced, specialized training became a reality as local officials broke ground on the Norfolk Southern First Responder Training Center at the former site of the Jasar Recycling facility located on Edgeworth Avenue in East Palestine.

“The lessons we learned from the unfortunate incident will be woven into our training programs. By sharing our experiences we aim to better prepare others to better prepare for similar events and ensure they can learn and benefit from our firsthand knowledge,” Drabick said. “Our state-of-art facility will equip our firefighters and emergency personnel with the knowledge and tools needed to address any crisis. The training will be transformative and ensure swift and effective response times during emergencies.”

The training center, which is in the design phase and expected to be completed or under construction by the end of 2024, will provide ongoing, free training to first responders from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the greater region. The center will offer traditional fire-service training to all first responders, but more importantly, it will offer specialized training for rail response and other transportational-related hazmat emergencies. However, the center will also provide training for a wide range of emergencies and provide training in both challenging and diverse environments.

The acquisition of the Jasar property not only provided the acres needed to construct such a facility, it also provided pre-existing buildings that will be fabricated to mirror real-life locations like classrooms for active shootings scenarios and warehouses for complex structure-fire situations. The facility will also be the future home of the East Palestine Fire Department, which will eventually relocate to the center.

$20 MILLION PLEDGE

Norfolk Southern has committed $20 million and an endowment over the next 10 years to the center, which will build upon the company’s Operation Awareness and Response program. OAR — launched in 2015 to educate the public about the economic importance of the safe movement of hazardous materials by rail and to connect emergency first responders in Norfolk Southern communities with information and training resources — currently trains 5,000 first responders annually across Norfolk Southern’s 22-state footprint and 35,600 miles of track.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw joined Drabick at the groundbreaking, as did East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, state Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel, R-Columbiana, state Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, and NS Vice President of Safety John Fleps.

“What we are going to build here is something that frankly reflects my appreciation for the first responders,” Shaw said. “The first responders are the true heroes of this whole thing. They devote their careers to protecting the communities in which we all live. The first responders were the first ones who ran to the scene when we had the accident. This is for them and a great day for all of us.”

Conaway reiterated Shaw’s sentiments, giving credit where credit was due and acknowledging the importance of being prepared for the worst.

“This is a bright day for the village of East Palestine. We are going to be able to train our first responders so if there’s ever another devastating event like what happened Feb. 3, we will be prepared for it,” Conaway said. “I just want to thank our first responders. They did a wonderful job on Feb. 3. No lives were lost and no one was really injured so we would like to thank them for that.”

‘HELL ON EARTH’

Rulli, who described what first responders faced that night as “hell on earth” and “Dante’s Inferno,” also credited emergency crews for their heroic actions. He also praised Drabick for the inception of the training center, while referencing a phoenix rising from the proverbial — or in East Palestine’s case — literal ashes.

“From the ashes comes beauty,” Rulli said. “I remember talking with Chief Drabick a few days after the derailment and I told Keith that people are saying they are never going to live here again, he said ‘shut the hell up’ and I said ‘what are we going to do?’ and he said ‘I am going to build a fire academy right here in East Palestine because nobody knows how to put out these crazy fires that have hazardous material and chemicals.'”

Rulli’s appreciation extended to Norfolk Southern as well, while recognizing the emotions the derailment still evokes in the community. Rulli also spoke of the anxiety that, as a resident of Leetonia a few miles down the road, he too experienced, recalling the “hum of sirens from all over” that he said “just went on forever” before circling back to Drabick’s words in the days following the derailment.

“The Boogeyman, Norfolk Southern stepped up to the plate. Are we there yet? No. Is the anxiety still in this town? Absolutely. The anxiety is still there,” Rulli said. “We need 20 years. We need 20 years of air sampling. We need 20 years of soil sampling so the people of East Palestine can have anxiety calmed and we can go forward, but I’m going back to the second day after the train derailment when Fire Chief Keith Drabick told me that we are going to be okay.”

MUCH CONFUSION

Drabick’s motivation in envisioning the training center was rooted in the confusion that first responders faced that night. It took nearly an hour for word of what was on the train to reach emergency crews on the ground. Even then, procedure and protocol was muddled by a breakdown in communication and absolute chaos as the fire raged. First responders immediately did what they were trained to that night — respond. They did so without any consideration for their own safety and without the adequate tools to extinguish the chemical flames.

The training center will provide first responders with those necessary tools, and according to Blasdel, that will save lives.

“These men and women walk into the unknown on a daily basis to protect our lives, our families and our communities and are true heroes,” Blasdel said. “In its finished form, the ground we shovel today will equip firefighters, police, EMT and hazmat workers to serve Ohioans across the state in a wide range of circumstances. The impact this facility will have on our village, on our county and on the entire East Coast cannot be overstated. The fire chief truly had a vision for this fire training facility and I am confident that the training that happens right here in East Palestine will save hundreds, if not thousands of lives, for years and years to come.”

Aside from bolstering public safety, the training center will also bolster the village’s economy, which lost footing in the wake of the rail disaster.

“It’s going to be a facility that draws first responders from all over the region and draws people into this community for multi-day training, which means they are going to stay in this community, which means they are going to the restaurants, which means they are going to go to the shops,” Shaw said. “They are going to contribute to the economic vibrancy of the community. It’s another way to lift the community. And it’s going to be a place where Norfolk Southern trains as well.”

The economic benefits of the center are a welcome boost to the village as it moves past Feb. 3. Drabick sees the training center as a step forward on the road to recovery and an embodiment of what East Palestine is capable of when the village works together.

“Beyond safety, the center also paves the way for economic growth. The training center will offer numerous employment opportunities from instructors to staff,” he said. “The center symbolizes a collaborative effort and the spirit of East Palestine as a shining example of what we achieve when we unite for a shared vision for our community’s benefit.”