It took firefighters at least 30 minutes after the first 911 call to reach Metro train commuters stuck in smoke-filled cars, with first responders to the deadly incident sent to three different locations, according to preliminary information released Thursday by D.C. officials.
Tightly held official details have begun to emerge three days after the incident, just as the first lawsuit claiming negligence by the transit authority is being filed.
“If there was some sort of safety protocol in place for the evacuation of subway tunnels Monday, it was not implemented correctly,” said Kim Brooks-Rodney, an attorney for two passengers filing a lawsuit Friday.
Ms. Brooks-Rodney said the lawsuit will accuse Metro of negligent maintenance, negligent inspection and negligent response to an emergency situation. No other parties, including the city’s fire department, will be named as defendants. Ms. Brooks-Rodney said she has meetings scheduled with 20 other train passengers and expects the number of plaintiffs to rise.
One of the two clients in the lawsuit, 53-year-old Malbert Rich, on Thursday described sending what he thought might be a final text message to family members telling them he loved them as his train car filled with smoke.
“It was sort of surreal,” he said. “I told my mother that I loved being her son, and I told my children that I loved being their dad.”
Mr. Rich said passengers in his train car shared water and eventually a bottle of wine as they waited and alternated spending time on the floor in attempts to breath in fresh air.
One woman died and more than 80 others were hospitalized, most treated for smoke inhalation problems.
The time line released Thursday by D.C. officials shows the first 911 call reporting smoke at L’Enfant came in at 3:18 p.m. Monday. Passengers aboard the train continued to make numerous 911 calls requesting help until 3:45 p.m.
But as calls began to pour in for the smoke incident at L’Enfant, callers also reported a debris fire on the train tracks at the Gallery Place station and smoke coming from a train tunnel several blocks from L’Enfant. Firefighters were dispatched to all three locations as a result.
Even once on the scene of L’Enfant, confusion continued.
Thirteen minutes elapsed from the time the first firefighters responded to L’Enfant at 3:31 p.m. to the time they were advised power to the train’s high-voltage third rail had been shut off — a safety concern when evacuating passengers.
It was at 3:48 p.m. that responding firefighters first made contact with passengers on the train, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said, providing additional details at a press conference Thursday.
The first report of a patient being transported to a hospital occurred at 4:25 p.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused an “electrical arcing event,” in which something came in contact with the train’s high-voltage third rail, producing the thick smoke.
Ms. Bowser said she hopes to be able to release the city’s first report on the incident — summarizing 911 calls, fire department radio traffic and interviews with first responders — within 48 hours. Additional information from Metro and other responding agencies will likely be released sometime next week, she said.
Ms. Brooks-Rodney said she hopes the lawsuit will help to provide more information about what caused the smoke and how the emergency response proceeded.
“The community has a right to know what happened in that subway tunnel,” Ms. Rodney said.
Ms. Brooks-Rodney, who previously worked as general council to Metro, represented families who lost two loved ones in the 2009 Metro crash on the Red Line that killed nine people.
Ms. Brooks-Rodney declined to disclose the nature of the settlement in that case and also declined to say what, if any, damages her clients might seek in this latest case.
“The goal of this lawsuit is to improve the subway system in the D.C. area,” she said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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