Chicago-area firefighters and emergency personnel joined representatives of The Dow Chemical and Union Pacific Railroad to honor the late John Eversole, the former chief of special operations for the Chicago Fire Department, for his lifelong dedication to public service, safety and security. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the Chicago stop of the 2008 TRANSCAER Training Tour, an educational initiative that brings chemical and rail industry experts into local communities to provide free railroad and chemical transportation training to emergency personnel.

The event featured the dedication of a customized safety train serving as mobile safety classrooms and training facilities, and the donation of $15,500 to the Yvorra Leadership Development Foundation for the Chief Eversole Endowment for Hazmat Emergency Responders by CSX Transportation, Dow Chemical, National TRANSCAER and Union Pacific.

Eversole was chairman of the Hazardous Materials Committee for the International Association of Fire Chiefs and chairman of the National Fire Protection Association 472 Committee. In these roles, he influenced national public policy with regard to hazardous materials and professional standards for responders on the national level. He was a strong supporter of TRANSCAER and the importance of the emergency response community and industry working together to address the challenges of hazardous materials.

"Chief John Eversole was a champion of hazardous materials transportation safety and security," said Henry Ward, director of transportation safety and security for Dow. “So it is very appropriate to honor him by dedicating this hazmat safety train in his name.”

Following the ceremony, the train will provided railroad and chemical transportation training to local firefighters and other emergency response personnel at the Chicago rail yard. Responders who registered for the training participated in a variety of classroom and simulated activities, focused on railroad equipment training, hazardous material training and advanced training with interactive emergency response drills.

“Emergency responders play a truly invaluable role in protecting the public’s safety and security,” said Lou Wagner, general director of chemical transportation safety for Union Pacific Railroad. “Through TRANSCAER, these men and women have the opportunity to learn firsthand from chemical and rail transportation experts about the safe movement of chemicals through their communities.”

TRANSCAER, an acronym for Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response, is the voluntary national outreach consortium of chemical-related companies, carrier/transport companies and industry associations formed 22 years ago as part of a shared commitment to the safe and secure transportation of chemical materials. Presented by Dow and Union Pacific, the TRANSCAER training tour is bringing chemical and rail industry professionals into communities along chemical transportation routes. The 2008 tour started in Alexandria, La., on April 9 and concluded in Chicago on May 8. This tour follows the 2007 tours, which trained more than 1,000 emergency responders in California, Texas and the Gulf Coast region.