Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Metro defends delayed alarm after derailment. Transit agency has history of slow notification and poor communication with area fire departments.
Click here to see Monday's coverage including pictures and raw video from inside derailed train
As we told you Monday afternoon, it took at least 19 minutes before the Arlington County Fire Department was notified a derailment had occurred in its jurisdiction. Those are the official times, with Metro saying the mishap occurred at 2:45 PM and Battalion Chief Carol Saulnier saying the department got the call at 3:04 PM. Some passengers, including 9NEWS Now producer Dan Guzman think it took longer.
Chief Saulnier did not characterize the time lost in any way other than to tell STATter 911 the department always likes to be notified of an incident right away so they can begin providing service as soon as possible.
In its defense, Metro said it takes time for the train operator to investigate the problem.
Metro has been down this track before. On January 7, 2007, DC Fire & EMS Department Assistant Chief Larry Schultz called Metro's response to a derailment at the Mount Vernon Square Station "unacceptable". Approximately 12 minutes went by after the derailment occurred and before proper notification was made.
Since 1996 we have documented a series of delayed calls and miscommunications between Metro and area fire departments. Two of those incidents occurred in Arlington. On January 20, 2003, there was a delay in getting the Arlington County Fire Department to the correct location of a derailment near Reagan National Airport.
In the 1990s, the Arlington County Fire Department had firefighters on the tracks near the Pentagon handling a small fire when the third rail was re-energized without warning.
Unlike the derailment in 2007 where 20 people were hurt, there were no injuries in Monday's mishap except a woman having difficulty with the heat. Still, as Nancy Yamada's report shows, there were a lot of unhappy customers waiting for help from the fire department.
In a press release issued Monday, Metro General Manager John Catoe said, “Our first concern was for the safety of our passengers. We wanted to get them off the derailed train and get medical attention to anyone who needed it. Fortunately, there were no injuries.”
they told me "this would never happen" I came up with a device to alert f.f. when the rail was energized metro said they did not need it after I retired I found out that they had adopted the device I wonder if arlington had one
: June 10, 2008 7:08 AM 
: June 10, 2008 5:02 PM : June 10, 2008 7:14 PM Later this evening I will link to the story I did after the Mount Vernon Square derailment which makes reference to the Foggy Bottom incident and uses some out of that out of focus, shakey video.
Sorry, got you confused with someone else for a moment. The video was fine. But I did probably fail to credit you.
The 911 calls were quite dramatic.
But probably the most outraged I have seen a fire department on Metro issues was when the power was turned on while Arlington FFs were still on the tracks between Pentagon and Pentagon City. There was smoke coming from a shaft on Army Navy Drive. I shot that one. Probably around 1996.
Statter
this quickly went down the drain. I remember aruging for stand pipe in the tunnels. orignal they were only in the vent shaft,They thought we could just drag a few feet of hose. one of the examples was the potomac river crossing was
to hve no standpipe.
it seems to me if it has rails the company seems to think laws or codes dont apply to them,
If the WASD has two wires with magnets, lights and horn thats it
: June 11, 2008 7:33 AM I understand John Catoes remarks that their purpose was to ensure that the passengers got off the train safely, however a call should have been made to the appropriate Fire Dept first, then assist the passengers. How long does it take to make a call to 911. Get the help on the way first, then assist.
: June 11, 2008 11:01 AM Links to this post:
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