Photo Provided - This photo shared on the Tiltonsville Volunteer Fire Department’s Facebook page shows fire engines from a variety of fire departments from throughout the state lined up to form a perimeter to help protect structures endangered by the train derailment in East Palestine.

Numerous local first responders answered the call to assist with the train derailment in East Palestine, lending a helping hand in the aftermath of the controlled detonation of a portion of the rail cars.

Over the last couple of days since the derailment Friday and controlled release of toxic chemicals on Monday, local departments have responded, providing tanker trucks, engines and manpower to aid in the situation as needed.

Allan Ketzell III, president of the Belmont County Fire and Squad Officers Association and chief of the Brookside Fire Department, said he and other members of the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Water Supply Technical Advisory Committee were on scene Tuesday.

Jim Delman, co-chairman of the committee and operations chief for the Sunset Heights Volunteer Fire Department, also responded to the need for additional support on Monday through the Ohio Fire Chief’s Emergency Response Plan.

“He (Delman) was in charge of the water movement for everything that went on (at the scene) on Monday,” Ketzell said.

Ketzell said he arrived on scene at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday with plans to be on location until 9 p.m. Ketzell was accompanied by Delman, their fellow members of the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ committee and a Mingo Junction Fire Department crew.

As of late Tuesday morning, Ketzell said the day was going well. He said the majority of what the crews had been doing was waiting and being on standby for safety purposes. He noted that they needed to remain a mile away from the actual wreck due to concerns about toxic chemicals in the air.

A number of other Eastern Ohio departments including Sunset Heights in Belmont County and Tiltonsville, New Alexander, Unionport, Mingo Junction and Wintersville in Jefferson County assisted Monday amid the controlled detonation. Each department brought engines and crews to help out at the scene.

The crews were released from the scene Tuesday afternoon after the situation was deemed neutralized, according to Delman.

“All of the hazardous materials are gone, burned up, so that part of it is safe,” he said, adding that the next step is for the Norfolk Southern rail company to clear out the remainder of the wreckage.

Delman said there were between 16 and 18 tankers and 11 other engines on standby during the operation as a precaution to create a perimeter around surrounding facilities.

Luckily, the controlled detonation went according to plan and no exposure fires were created as a result of the explosions that created small holes in the cars so the chemicals could drain out.

Delman said the Ohio Fire Chief’s Emergency Response Plan has been in effect throughout the entire state since the 1990s. It was created in response to severe flash flooding in Shadyside — the 1990 “Flood of Tears” on Wegee and Pipe creeks that claimed 26 lives.

“It pulls a couple units from each county from the surrounding area so it does not hamper emergency response in the county that they’re pulling from,” he said.