“We do not have the foam, we don’t have the equipment, we don’t have the training,” he said.

Cleveland estimates it would cost his department about $200,000 to be fully prepared to respond to an oil train derailment. The question is who should pay the bill.

“Who should bear the financial responsibility?” he asked. “Is it fair for city of lax taxpayers to bear 100 percent of the cost for commodities that move through the community?”

BNSF said it has specialized equipment and more than 200 trained hazmat responders at 60 locations on its network, and the railroad has offered to bring firefighters to Colorado for in-depth training.

Railway spokeswoman Amy McBeth said BNSF is working on an agreement to stage a foam-dispensing trailer in La Crosse.

But the increased oil train traffic poses special problems for some rural counties, which rely primarily on volunteer firefighters and first responders who can’t afford to take additional time off work to travel to Colorado.