An awareness class is being held this weekend in Stuart for emergency preparedness for rail car accidents.

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf says the railcar incident response class for rural responders to be better prepared in cases where there might be a railcar derailment, a spill from a railcar or a train vs. vehicle accident. The topics that will be covered include: types of railcars, types of damages to the railcars, how to mitigate the types of different accidents and communicating with different responding agencies. The class will be led by a representative from the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium.

Kempf explains why he wanted to host a class like this.

“We don’t have a lot of trains that come through on our railway. This would be something that could come up that we are not used to. It’s not in our wheelhouse. We don’t do it everyday. What should we be looking for to not only protect the public, but protect the emergency responder that goes out to this.”

The free class will be at the Stuart Fire Station from 8am to 5pm on Saturday.