Lake County Gazette

The Highland Park City Council met on Feb. 27 and discussed the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and how the city is prepared for a disaster of this sort.

City Manager Ghida Neukirch said the city has examined its emergency preparedness and response plans following the disaster.

“From the city's perspective, in terms of our emergency preparedness, certainly as you well know, we have a comprehensive emergency operations plan at the city that is reviewed regularly,” Neukirch said. “We have developed that plan based on guidance from the federal government, specifically a national incident management system that has really served us well over the years as we respond to various types of emergencies, power outages, flooding, you know, different types of emergencies.”

Neukirch said the emergency operations plan is the foundation for identifying practices, policies and procedures in the case of an emergency. 

“And so should, God forbid, there be a train derailment or anything of that sort, we want the public to rest assured that we have emergency preparedness procedures that we adhere to based on guidance from the federal government and working in close partnership with federal, state, county, as well as other local agencies,” Neukirch said.

One resident spoke at the meeting, voicing his concern about the contents of trains going through the city. He asked if the council could publish the information and asked how many first responders were trained in railway safety. The resident thanked the council for its diligence in the matter and council promised to get him answers as best as possible.

Neukirch also discussed the potential merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads, saying that it is awaiting the decision of the Surface Transportation Board. She said it would increase the amount of rail traffic in the city, as it would increase amount of trains carrying oil from Canada to Mexico. Neukirch said they reached out to Union Railway for information about response plans following the Ohio train disaster. The city has also been working with other mayors and state representatives in an effort to increase safety measures.