Jacksonville soon will have the first railroad company-operated training center in the nation where firefighters can learn how to handle railway hazardous material spills.
Railroad company CSX will partner with Florida State College at Jacksonville on the facility. The center will expand the existing academy at FSCJ’s south campus where about 5,000 fire trainees annually learn to battle everything from aircraft incidents to high-rise blazes.
The CSX Hazardous Materials Training Institute will begin construction in a few weeks on property next to the fire academy’s railcar fire simulator. It will replace a regional training center once operated in Atlanta. It also will supplement the CSX’s Responder Incident Training train, which is based in Jacksonville and travels to cities to offer hands-on experience to firefighters about railcar equipment and emergency response procedures…