FireRescue Magazine/FFN Staff

The crash of two Washington, D.C., Metro commuter trains yesterday culminated in a response that involved at least six departments and hundreds of responders. Shortly after the D.C. Fire and EMS Department transferred command of the scene to the NTSB around 1 pm local time, FireRescue/FirefigherNation.com caught up with several of the chiefs who were on scene during the incident, as well as Billy Hayes, director of public information and community affairs for the department, who arrived on scene shortly after the incident began.
Initial Challenges: Extrication & Access

"Upon first arrival, I could see that approximately 200 people -- passengers, responders and police officers -- were on the tracks," says Lawrence Schultz, Assistant Chief of Operations for D.C. Fire and EMS, who yesterday served as the incident commander on scene. "From the bridge I could see the injured being carried down the hill."

Unified command was set up early. "All agencies involved exercised great discipline in staying at the command post," says Timothy Gerhart, Deputy Chief of Operations, who served as the Operations Section Chief on the scene. "We had a liaison at the command post, so there was no one running around trying to locate representatives from other agencies. We are fortunate to have numerous channels that we can use on our communication system, so we operated with five different operational channels, including extrication, EMS and operations. That went really well."

The incident initially posed two immediate challenges: extrication and access. "A special operations task force responded on the first alarm, which gave us approximately 20+ technical rescue specialists," Schultz says. "The metro train had compressed accordion-style. The part that you see in the photos on top of the other car is actually just the aluminum shell of the car. The rest of the car -- the frame, the seats and everything else -- had accordion-compacted to a third of its original size from the force of the impact. So obviously there was some de-layering of aluminum, steel, carpet, plywood, furniture and victims." Crews shored extensively, using air shores to stabilize the piece of the car that went over the top of the other car. "Because access to part of the compacted train was from the top, we had to secure the piece on top before the rescue operation could proceed," Schultz says.

Scene access was hampered by several factors, including that the tracks are secured tracks with controlled access, and also that the Metro tracks where the incident occurred are sandwiched in between two CSX train tracks. "Access points are always an issue in these types of incidents," Schultz says. "Electricity on the metro track is also a problem, because you can’t get close to the track until you know the power has been secured. When you have tracks like these that are sandwiched between CSX tracks, all agencies must be communicating to shut down that traffic."

Access was also affected by the rains that have hit the D.C. area lately. "It was very muddy once you came down off the gravel that’s immediately around the tracks," Hayes says. "It’s basically a residential/commercial area, so our access points are between buildings. We were stretching hoselines between those buildings, which created even more mud. So in the evening, Public Works brought in 10 loads of composite material and created a temporary road to help stabilize the ground and make operations easier."

Hayes notes one positive point about access, however: "The incident occurred close to a bridge, so we were able to set up command post there. If it would have occurred inside the tunnel or below ground, the casualties would have been much higher."

Crowd Control

Adding to the complexity of the incident: Many people were flocking to and from the accident scene. "When I first arrived, I noticed large crowd gathering to observe where the triage area had been set up, where we already had one fatality who was covered up as well as multiple critical patients being treated," Hayes says. "My first response was to get the crowd away from that area because things were developing so quickly."

T.V. crews set up wherever they could, focusing immediately on the casualties. "One thing I learned from that: First responders become so conditioned to seeing things like this all the time, we must remember that the general public is not," Hayes says. "We have to be mindful of what the public sees and how they’ll react."

Perhaps because this happened in the nation’s capital, additional people on scene presented a unique challenge. "We had people arriving on scene flashing credentials and badges who were not affiliated with this incident," Hayes says. "We had one individual who came up and flashed a badge and made it through saying he was from the Pentagon. He was detained because of suspicious activity, and the police had to bring in a canine unit to search his vehicle to make sure there was no terrorist threat." Other individuals claimed to be part of law enforcement or the fire department to get access to the scene.

Schultz and Gerhart note that the importance of controlling access to the scene -- for both onlookers and passengers -- provides one of the key immediate lessons learned in the incident. Initially, the call came in as a train derailment, and two individual local alarms were dispatched, one to the Tacoma Park metro station and one to Fort Totten. "Both alarms arrived at the stations, and personnel began to work their way inward to find the incident," Schultz says. "Then Metro Transit Authority confirmed it was a train collision. The first-arriving officer immediately called in train collision with multiple casualties, which then called up our MCI units, one in north and one in south."

However, Schultz and Gerhart note that because the majority of DC Fire & EMS assets were dispatched to the two metro stations, not the line itself, entry and access control was lost very early. "As a result, there were a lot of people going up to the tracks who weren’t involved in the incident, and many passengers on the train who actually left the train and the scene of the incident," Schultz says.

Rehab

Temperatures were in the high 80s for much of the incident, creating potentially dangerous conditions for the crews.

"Rehab was set up with engine companies, EMS supervisors and ALS units," says Gerhart. "We also had multiple canteen units provided by our volunteer branch called the Friendship Fire Association. American Red Cross responded later that evening. We continuously cycled our crews throughout rehab, and rotated two engines and one truck every 2 hours."

One firefighter was transported for heat exhaustion, but is reported to be fine. Another suffered a knee injury and was also transported but is also reported to be doing fine.

Latest Numbers & Next Steps
As of 1 p.m. local time, the department had transferred command of the scene and was in the process of removing equipment and shutting down operations. The fatality count stands at nine, and all bodies have been recovered from the wreckage.

Gregory Blalock, Deputy Chief for EMS, says that in all, 51 individuals were transported, including two critical (red tag), 14 moderate but not life-threatening (yellow tag), and 35 walking wounded (green tag). "The two critical patients were flown out within 20 minutes; all transports occurred within 2 hours," he says. "The majority of injuries were very minor in nature: contusions, fractures, scrapes, lacerations. There were really only three or four critically injured patients."

Blalock and Hayes stress that the department was very prepared for this incident. "This is the type of situation that we drill on -- MCI, along with proper triage," Blalock says. "We drill on triage every week. So the drilling, instruction and preplanning paid off for us."

Hayes agrees: "Watching everything unfold, the effort and work of D.C. Fire and EMS personnel was just phenomenal. Strategy, tactics and tasks -- all three elements of the incident command system -- were carried out flawlessly."

The Bottom Line

FireRescue Editor-in-Chief Timothy Sendelbach says this incident stresses the importance of constant training:

"If you ever wondered why your department conducts mass-casualty drills every year, the D.C. Metro train crash is yet another reminder as to why. MCI incidents can happen anywhere, anytime, and our success or failure is directly related to our level of preparation, planning and training.

"MCI incidents are notoriously chaotic; from frantic bystanders to opportunistic wannabes, we must be prepared for them all. Crowd control and scene access are critical to the effective stabilization of an incident -- MCI or otherwise.

"This incident is yet another justification for every department leader to continuously emphasize the importance of a unified command system, cooperative relations/agreements with neighboring departments (fire, public works, etc.) and interoperability of communications and related equipment (i.e. rescue tools, medical equipment, etc.).

"An MCI incident will undoubtedly challenge any emergency response system. It’s critically important to request the right amount of resources early, anticipate the need for crew rotations, forecast the need for specialized equipment and establish a command structure supportive of a marathon event."

For video, pictures and more, see the original news post.