I was in Edmond last night at 15th and Broadway. The light was red when a fire truck approached the intersection from the north made its way through the traffic to turn west on 15th. As it turned onto 15th a train approached and the arms lowered at the tracks. As a result the firetruck sat there for a very long time while the train finally made its way through and the gates were raised.

I was surprised because while some emergency, which required the fire department to run to the emergency, had to be delayed by many minutes as the train made its way down the tracks. My question is how often does this happen? Is there any requirement of railroad to give a schedule to the fire department so they can take alternate route?

I was in Edmond last night at 15th and Broadway. The light was red when a fire truck approached the intersection from the north made its way through the traffic to turn west on 15th. As it turned onto 15th a train approached and the arms lowered at the tracks. As a result the firetruck sat there for a very long time while the train finally made its way through and the gates were raised.

I was surprised because while some emergency, which required the fire department to run to the emergency, had to be delayed by many minutes as the train made its way down the tracks. My question is how often does this happen? Is there any requirement of railroad to give a schedule to the fire department so they can take alternate route?

This is why cities with rail still active often have emergency vehicles of all types stationed on both sides of the tracks, I doubt it happens enough (in Edmond) that it would be worth taking extra time out of every other drive. Plus enough variance probably would creep in to make a static schedule useless to say can I cross in the next minute. It does seem like it might have been better to have placed the fire station along Broadway at 2nd and the one on Danford more north (granted the stations were probably built way before many of those houses were that far away from Edmond proper)

Usually, they call their dispatch and have another rig started due to them being held up by the train. Personally, I think that the railroads and the cities should get together and figure out a plan to elevate either the tracks or the roadway as they need repairs. But, since we can't even get the crossings leveled to a point where they don't ruin your tires or suspension when crossing them, I realize my idea borders on pie in the sky dreaming.

Usually, they call their dispatch and have another rig started due to them being held up by the train. Personally, I think that the railroads and the cities should get together and figure out a plan to elevate either the tracks or the roadway as they need repairs. But, since we can't even get the crossings leveled to a point where they don't ruin your tires or suspension when crossing them, I realize my idea borders on pie in the sky dreaming.

If it was a big enough issue to do something, as long as the fire trucks can fit under the bridge at 2nd, it would be several millions of dollars cheaper to relocate the station on Broadway to 2nd and not incur the maintenance and repair cycle of the bridge. Actually you could probably replace every fire station in Edmond for less than the cost of the bridge and approaches.

Fascinating. I never even thought about this problem.

A 6000 ton train traveling at 50 mph, under controled braking can take over a mile to stop. Many of the trains that run that line far exceed that tonage and are over a mile long . This is why trains have the right of way over all vehicles at grade crossings.

You'd think it would make more sense to deploy out of the station at Danforth and Kelly for anything west of the train tracks.

You'd think it would make more sense to deploy out of the station at Danforth and Kelly for anything west of the train tracks.

That suggestion is too simple to work.

At least Edmond has a couple of underpasses. Norman is building one but for the longest time there was no alternate route. They just had to wait on the train.

The only reason our cities have blossomed where they are is because of the railroads. I highly doubt the cities and the railroads need to work in conjunction with each other to worry about the timing of a train coming through with the random call for a firetruck crew to make its emergency run. Besides, it would cost waaaaaay too much money to elevate or place the railroad in a trench. Please feel free to research the cost on that. Even if it were 60% federally paid, it'd still be an astronomical figure for a city the size of Edmond.

It was like that here in Norman, but they made an underpass under the tracks so stop any delays. It is so much easier getting through there now.

You'd think it would make more sense to deploy out of the station at Danforth and Kelly for anything west of the train tracks.
They usually computer dispatch the closest station. That doesn't take into account waiting on trains, rush hour traffic or any number of delays. It assumes that the closest will be the fastest, which is usually the case.

Anytime an Emergency Crew is held up, they dispatch another team and usually cancel the call. If the rig continued on, there were likely multiple units responding to the scene already anyway. It should also be noted that just about all cities in Oklahoma have mutal aid agreements in place with Fire, Police and EMS with the neighboring jurisdictions in the event something happens to keep the assigned responders from getting to the scene. This ensures first responders are on scene as fast as possible. If Edmond Fire could not make it, I am sure Oklahoma City took it instead or worked it until Edmond got on scene/worked it with Edmond.