La Crosse fire dept. adds railroad tanker for training

The 30-ton rail car was gift from BNSF.

The La Crosse Fire Dept. just added a bit of an unusual piece of equipment to its collection.

Thanks to a gift from Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF), the department now owns a 30-ton railroad tanker car.

Delivered Thursday from the north La Crosse rail yards, the fire department added it to its permanent training site on Isle La Plume.

The department and, likely, other emergency response units will be able to use the tanker for training.

It has been tipped over onto its side, as it might look after a real derailment.

“Instead of sending people traveling, spending all that money to go learn somewhere else, we thought it’d be a great opportunity if the rail car could be right here,” Division chief

Frank Devine said. “The entire dept. now is going to get hands on with this.”

Devine says firefighters will get to simulate fires on the tanker, and learn the car’s structure to prepare for real emergencies.