Cause, Communication, Compensation: Rockland's RR Track Brushfires

NEW CITY, NY — In the aftermath of Friday's brush fires along the CSX tracks, Rockland County officials on Monday had a conference call with corporate representatives about causes, communication and compensation; organized an inspection of fire sites on the steep slope above Route 9W; and began revising their emergency plans.

"We met with CSX today," County Executive Ed Day told Patch. The meeting on Zoom was brokered by State Sen. Bill Weber and State Assemblyman John McGowan and included fire and municipal officials, as well as the Rockland County Sheriff, who is investigating the origin of the fire.

The conference call covered a number of issues, Day said. "We got a lot off our chests."

Nearly two dozen fires broke out from Stony Point to Congers within minutes of each other Friday afternoon as temperatures hovered near 90 degrees. Witnesses described seeing sparks from a CSX train's wheels as it went by. Flames rose 30 feet, black smoke could be seen for miles, and intense heat melted siding as emergency responders hurriedly converged from across the region. Damage to property from the fires included six homes plus sheds and fences, and three firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion. Parts of Route 9 were closed through the weekend into Monday afternoon to clear burnt utility poles and trees and clear fallen rocks.

As of Monday, Day said, the corporation has streamlined the process for damage claims. Now, all residents will have to do is email rmfeedback@csx.com with contact information and basic descriptions of what was damaged or lost, and save receipts to provide upon request.

"The primary issue is try to make it right for people who suffered any loss," Day said. Covering expenses for the municipalities who expended resources, "that's in the works," he said. He said it was too soon to have estimates for the overall cost, "but I think we'll need a pretty big calculator."

CSX gave this statement to Patch on Monday:

CSX prioritizes safety, above all else, in the communities where we operate. CSX immediately responded to the brush fires in Rockland County and halted train traffic through the area to allow for a safe response. This particular train was carrying mixed freight.
CSX teams were on scene within hours and began the process of proactively going door to door, meeting directly with the impacted residents and offering assistance.
The CSX train that traveled through the area was inspected and no issues were found.
While there has been no official determination as to the cause, CSX has been and will continue to work closely with local officials to provide support, and we are certainly willing to review any information provided to us.
We greatly appreciate and thank the volunteer fire departments for their swift action to contain and extinguish the fires.
We will continue working with the affected communities of Haverstraw, Congers and Stoney Point, and will consider requests received from residents for reimbursement.
CSX immediately stopped all train activity in the area and did not resume until it was deemed safe to do so.

Rockland County Sheriff Lou Falco is in charge of the county's investigation of the cause and origin of the fires. CSX has assured the sheriff that they will convey any video they have from the train, Day said. County officials also asked for an independent analysis.

Day said CSX agreed to improve communication with both county and municipal officials.

"We are concerned about info not getting to us in a timely manner," he said. "We revisited some of he things that happened in the past. The derailment in Highview a couple of years ago — we didn’t even get a call till 15 hours later.

"Both sides agree we need to do better," he said. CSX agreed to a primary notification to the county's emergency center and a secondary level of notifications to local elected officials.

Though, he added, on Friday he didn’t have to get a notification. "We knew fast there was something going on," he said. "I looked out my window, and saw black smoke all over the place."

Meanwhile, Day said State Transportation Commissioner Jackie Bray has agreed to send a team from the DOT to Rockland on Wednesday, including a geo-engineer, to inspect steep slopes along state roads affected by the fire, with officials from the Haverstraw Fire Department and the county's emergency management office.

"We had a flare-up with a couple of stumps yesterday," Day said. "9W was reopened at 3 p.m. and then around 4 p.m. they had to close it for 20 minutes. Between the flare-ups and the concern about the mountain, I was on the phone with Commissioner Bray last night to ask for resources from DOT to be as sure as possible that the topography has not been compromised."

Another thing county officials are working on is updating emergency plans to make sure if there's a crisis on the Sabbath that they can communicate swiftly and effectively with Rockland's large orthodox Jewish communities.

"It did not become a compelling issue in the middle of a crisis," Day said. "But it became clear that it was one more issue we need to take into account for emergency planning."

One thing they know worked well — the mutual aid system that contributes resources from all over the region. That morning, a contingent of Rockland firefighters had gone north to a brush fire in Orange County, and when Rockland's fires broke out, mutual aid was sent from Westchester and Mahwah, New Jersey.

"So the backup plan to the backup worked," Day said. He commended the work that was done by so many people, from firefighters to law enforcement to volunteers to EMTs to witnesses to neighbors helping neighbors.

"As much smoke as there was in the air, it was a moment when Rockland County shone," he said.