Bonner County EMS gets a New Off-Road Ambulance

The rugged terrain of northern Idaho can provide some challenges for first responders.  With help from the BNSF Railway Foundation, the Bonner County EMS was able to purchase an ASAP off-road ambulance.  This ambulance is already helping save lives.  In October, it was put to the test twice in one day with the vehicle performing beyond first

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BNSF Hosts an Idaho Safety Training

BNSF and its contractors hosted north Idaho first responders in September to conduct drills on local waterways, demonstrating how to position containment booms and deploy other spill countermeasures. Attendees practiced setting up boom at Dover Bay, off Lake Pend Oreille, and on the Clark Fork River. Thousands of feet of spill deflection boom was towed

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BNSF Plans for HazMat Training in Idaho

BNSF takes safety very seriously and helping our first responders train is a big part of that effort. This year, BNSF conducted a cold-water boom deployment drill on the Kootenai River in Idaho with first responders in addition to providing a safety briefing to the Kootenai County Local Emergency Planning Committee. In September, BNSF will

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BNSF Adds Double Track in North Idaho

Starting this summer, BNSF will be adding 10 miles of double track in North Idaho. The second set of tracks will help ease congestion between Athol and Rathdrum.  Double track increases the network’s capacity by giving train dispatchers more options when directing traffic and by allowing planned maintenance to happen on one track while the

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Spotlight: Idaho

For more than a century, BNSF Railway has played a leading role in North Idaho’s economy. The tradition remains strong today as trainloads of products are shipped in or out of the state on our 32,500-mile rail network. Idaho is part of the Great Northern Corridor, which spans the northern United States between the Pacific

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Bonner EMS Receives Grant

The BNSF Railway Foundation awarded a $37,578 grant to the Bonner County EMS. The grant award will go toward the purchase of an off-road ambulance. “Given the hundreds of miles of hiking, biking and walking trails in Bonner County, having a specially outfitted response vehicle available will greatly increase our ability to respond to those

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Dedication to Environmental Stewardship

Every year a member of Congress and a railroad employee are presented with the John H. Chafee Award to recognize outstanding environmental stewardship in the railroad industry. This year BNSF nominated John Jeffrey for his forward-thinking improvements and safe operations at BNSF’s locomotive fueling facility in Hauser, Idaho. John helped work with government agencies to

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