Tuesday was a bad day from start to finish for riders on Metro’s Red Line subway. There were at least three smoke/fire incidents during rainy weather. The first one impacted the morning rush hour and two others disrupted train traffic for the evening trip home. None of the incidents ended up being significant fires and no injuries were reported. The fires were related to the ongoing arcing, sparking, smoking and burning issues Metro has long experienced in some of the rail system’s electrical components.
Unfortunately–as has become the rule rather than the exception–the combination of Washington, DC’s 911 center and Metro’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) resulted in delays dispatching DC Fire & EMS to all three of these incidents. The longest delay, by far, was at the hands of the DC’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC or 911 center) during the day’s second incident.
OUC has a long history of dispatching firefighters and EMS to rail and other emergencies. The current 911 director, Karima Holmes,was recently questioned by DC Council members about a 4-minute dispatch delay to a deadly house fire. Holmes wasn’t able to provide good answers….
