Posted by marsbars (anonymous) on March 28, 2008 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

That is really sad. This took it's toll on my spose. He also works for BNSF and was not to far away from there.

Posted by hartford (anonymous) on March 28, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)

My heart goes out the the family. I was in town yesterday when this happened. My big question is about the EMS response: I saw the ambulance and a rescue vehicle come down Mechanic and turn east on South Street. About 6 minutes later they came back South headed west, were they dispatched to the wrong location? I don't know if a matter of 6 minutes would have changed the outcome, I suppose it wouldn't have, but I am concerened that response vehicles were possibley dispatched to the wrong location. This would be something I would look into if I was a family member. I know we are all human and mistakes are made, but I wouldn't expect it often from our EMS.

Posted by old_soldier (anonymous) on March 28, 2008 at 5:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

2 miles west of Emporia would not be the station where the rescue vehicle is located. Perhaps they were going to another call? Perhaps when they got to a call they were not needed, then they were sent to another call? Perhaps the vehicles you saw had nothing to do with this call at all?

Perhaps this is not the appropriate place to discuss this????

Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on March 28, 2008 at 8:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

my sympathies to the families of all BNSF workers effected by this tragedy.
and thank you old soldier, you are completely correct. this is no place to question an ems response

Posted by mama304 (anonymous) on March 28, 2008 at 9:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

What a tragedy! I come from a long line of railroad employees in my family and my husband works for the railroad too. Accidents like this aren't new to the railroad, there were 62 injured BNSF employees in Kansas last year and 4 killed across the U.S. These are BNSF statistics. I've seen my family lose close friends before. I heard that the big shots with BNSF flew in, shut down the railroad and tried to recreate the accident to figure out what went wrong. When are they going to realize that the biggest problem that causes these accidents is the amount of time their employees work with no sleep. I've seen these people work for 12, 16 even 18 hours with only a few hours rest in between for days at a time. Sal was a victim of the railroad having too much work and not enough employees and forcing the employees they do have to break the safety rules they tout so much. BNSF has meetings all the time to tell the employees about the safety regulations and laws set forth by agencies such as the Federal Railroad Association, OSHA and DOT, but they fail to practice what they preach. When is someone going to investigate this and put a halt to these practices before someone else near and dear to us is gone? My heart goes out to Sal's family and to the many people whose lives he touched. And for all you folks still putting in the hours for the railroad, please be safe and take care of each other.

Posted by hartford (anonymous) on March 29, 2008 at 7:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

(I never said anything about them heading 2 miles west. The article said it happened 2 miles west) Well maybe you are both right I don't know, I was just curious. And I wasn't trying to start any problems, I was just wanting to know. And let me say I have no problems with our EMS reponse but if I did I wouldn't be afraid to say rather you or anyone else liked it or not. So regardless if you think it is appropiate here or not, it is something we should all be aware of. We should not wait until it is too late, for the sake of our loved ones, if we have a competent EMS respone or not! But let me reiterate for old soldier and dhcc66, I have no problem with our EMS. All I know is I saw 2 response teams both headed east on South, 5-6 minutes later they both were headed west. I could hear the sirens the whole time so if they were both called off one call then they both were immediately called elswehere. They were following eachother the whole time. What ever I guess, as long as it wasn't you old soldier and dhcc66, then what differance does it make huh?

mama304: My grandpa worked his butt off for the railroad! I understand where you are coming from. He would tell us about how little sleep he would get at times. He worked for them many years ago, but obviously things haven't changed much. Things do need to change and we need to tell whomever will listen.

Posted by old_soldier (anonymous) on March 30, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I'll tell you what difference it makes. Ever lose a loved one to trauma? I have, and the LAST thing you want to see publicly displyed is what-ifs and inuendos.

You are obvioulsy not involved with what goes on with emergency services and dispatching, all you saw is what you saw, so why even bring it up?

Posted by old_soldier (anonymous) on March 30, 2008 at 10:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I have an idea, if you have a concern, call the Fire Chief at the FD. The number's in the book.

Posted by hartford (anonymous) on March 31, 2008 at 12:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

You are all right. I apologize!!

Posted by blessedandgrateful (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 1:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I am someone who is closely related (not a railroad employee and not a member of Sal's family) to this tragedy, and that is exactly what it was, a tragic accident. I can tell you with certainty that there has been many and will continue to be many sleepless nights over the loss of this man's life, what it means to his family, and just the fact that a fellow human being died in such a horrible way. I wonder daily about his family, how they are doing and if they are surviving. I include them in my prayers and pray that he did not suffer and that with any blessing he never even knew what happened. Those of you who are not aware of the circumstances and the outcome of the FRA investigation need to be more mindful of the comments you make. If I was the family of this man it would make me feel so much better to read things that send out condolences and prayers for my family rather than a bunch of speculation about what happened. For those of us that knew Sal, it would probably mean a lot to them to read all the good things we can say about him not keep harping on how he died, they know what happened. The family needs our prayers and support and we all need to be a little more sensitive and considerate.