Emergency responders train for river spill

January 16, 2017

By Michael Meier Boundary County Public Information On Saturday, January 14, several first responders from local fire departments, Boundary County Search and Rescue, the Sheriff’s Office and Kootenai Tribal Police came together to train with Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad personnel on spill containment on the Kootenai and Moyie Rivers. BNSF has stationed spill containment trailers at Twin Rivers and in their new storage building in Bonners Ferry, along with providing a trailer and supplies stationed with South Boundary Fire. The training instructed by BNRR employees and contractors drilled on containment and collection of a spill that may reach the waterways, and use of the materials that are located in the storage containers. Everything is always easier to do on a nice warm summer day, which is why it was decided to do this training when weather contributes to the challenges of boom deployment and spill containment. If they can react well with the challenges of cold temperatures and ice, it will make it that much easier when conditions are more clement.