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Train slows emergency response
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: September 22, 2022

A train blocking at least three intersections in Valley Center caused a delay in the response to a medical emergency in the west part of town Sept. 18.

A woman in her mid-40s experiencing diabetic complications was later pronounced dead at her residence in the 600 block of North Redbud Court.

It's uncertain whether a quicker response could have prevented the woman's death, Valley Center Police Chief Lloyd Newman said.

However, the blocked intersections made it more difficult to respond to the call, he said.

"It makes it difficult for us, for sure, when they're blocking so many of our crossings," Newman said.

Sedgwick County 911 dispatched Valley Center firefighters as well as Sedgwick County EMS to the residence at 2:31 p.m.

Newman said the first firefighters to respond — coming from the Valley Center Public Safety Building on East Fifth — used Fifth Street to get to the residence, which is in the Ridgefield subdivision near Sheridan and Kessler, west of the railroad tracks near Interurban. But before reaching the crossing, firefighters noticed the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train was not moving.

So, the firetruck turned south on Birch and went to the crossing at Second Street. It, too, was blocked by the train.

The firetruck then used the gravel railroad right-of-way road to get to Main Street. Firefighters saw that the Main Street crossing was blocked as well.

The truck went back to Meridian and south to Industrial, where it went through the industrial park and up Sheridan to reach Fifth again.

It took seven minutes, when it could have taken three or four.

"It was a longer response time on our end," Newman said.

Moments after the first truck left the station, a second Valley Center firetruck responded. Alerted that the crossings were blocked, firefighters drove straight down Meridian to the industrial park and north on Sheridan to the residence.

In the meantime, an ambulance crew coming up to Valley Center from a Sedgwick County EMS post at K-96 and Hillside used Fifth Street to reach the residence. The train was still blocking the track, so it, too, had to backtrack to Meridian and go around the industrial park to reach Sheridan.

The ambulance reached the residence at 2:45 p.m., 14 minutes after it was dispatched, Sedgwick County EMS said.

According to the county's EMS online dashboard, the average response time for all 285 emergency ambulance calls in Valley Center so far in 2022 was 12 minutes.

At 2:47 p.m., a concerned resident called BNSF to complain about the parked train. The train moved 12 minutes later, the resident told The News.

A BNSF Railway spokesperson told The News that one of the train's locomotives had a mechanical issue that caused the stop.

"Once our crews were able to correct the issue, they departed from the area," said Ben Wilemon, external corporate communications manager for BNSF. "We apologize for inconvenience this may have caused residents."





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