ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Firefighters in south Adams County are hitting major roadblocks when responding to emergency calls. Stopped trains intermittently block intersections along Highway 85, and firefighters say this has been going on for years.
"I would say this happens once every two days. For our citizens, it's an inconvenience. For the rail companies who do get fined, it's just the cost of doing business. For us, it's life and death," said Chris VanDijk, a member of the union that represents South Adams County firefighters. "We had an incident where we had a fire, we would have been the first truck, we ran into a train delay. It was stopped on the tracks. And fire doubles every 30 seconds, so it meant we had to go five miles around just to get to the incident."
On Monday, a train was stopped near Highway 85 and 112th Avenue for at least two hours.
"Our goal is to keep trains moving and we are committed to reducing delays at roadway crossings," Union Pacific said in a statement when asked about the stopped train. "But, just like highways and interstates, there are times when congestion occurs within the railroad system, especially in industrial areas such as in southern Adams County, driven by the demand for goods. When motorists encounter blocked crossings, they can be reported at UP.com/NotifyUP."
VanDijk said near Highway 85, intersections from 104th Avenue to 120th Avenue proved to often be a problem. When they are responding to a call and find themselves in this situation, they have to try to find someone else to respond faster.
"One of the things that we have to do is relay that to our dispatch and they have to get other units started because we don't know how long that train's going to be there," VanDijk said. "They'll stop here anywhere from 15-20 minutes to a couple of hours."
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo represents this area. She said she recently heard about this problem.
"Well it’s incredibly frustrating, particularly as a doctor when, I know for things like stroke, heart attack in particular, time equals the ability to recover and save somebody’s life," she said. "So the thought that a train is getting in the way in keeping emergency services from reaching patients at a critical time is really concerning. Especially when you hear that there’s nothing either the fire department or really the state can do about this issue."
Caraveo has signed onto the Don't Block Our Communities Act. It's a bill that would stop rail carriers from blocking intersections with trains for more than 10 minutes. Those carriers would be fined for repeated violations. The bill would also require the Federal Railroad Administration to investigate blocked crossing incidents that are reported by the public.
"We should be able to get emergency services in and out of communities without a train blocking an intersection for no good reason," Caraveo said.
VanDijk supports the bill. He hopes it garners bipartisan support and creates the change he said the area so desperately needs.
"We’re really hopeful that the federal legislation, especially giving the FRA some kind of an oversight, passes," he said. "It’s something that states try to deal with, our city and our county can’t really do anything. Certain states are actually not allowed to impose fines, so some kind of federal regulation over the trains will be a welcome change."
The bill is currently being introduced to Congress.
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