METRO Training

As most people who live in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) area know, our Metro train system is fairly extensive, weaving its way through Prince George's County, Montgomery County, the District of Columbia and Fairfax County. As many people, regardless of where they live, also probably know, Metro has had several problems over the years (crashes, derailments, people getting struck by trains, etc.). All of the fire departments that have Metro trains running through their jurisdictions are responsible for mitigating potential Metro incidents to a certain degree. This includes rescuing passengers in the event of a crash, evacuating passengers who get sick while on the trains, and extinguishing fires that occur in the Metro stations or on the tracks. We rarely run calls involving Metro trains, which makes every opportunity to train for Metro incidents very important. This past Wednesday, we had just such an opportunity.

All of company 12 was given the chance to go to the Greenbelt Metro yard and get some refresher training on Metro cars. I was not scheduled to work on Wednesday (it was my kelly day), but as I said, Metro training is very valuable. So I came in to the station anyway and went with the guys to the Metro yard.


At the yard, we were met by one of the Metro employees (himself a former firefighter from Fairfax) and he brought us into the warehouse to give us an in-depth look at a Metro car. He taught us about how Metro cars are always paired with another car {An "A" car and a "B" car..."A" cars have even numbers and "B" cars have odd numbers), how to open the car doors manually, how to access the batteries on each Metro car and how to remove the windows, in case we needed to get people out of a car when it's not convenient to go through the doors. Our guide pointed out lots of other things about the train cars, but they just aren't coming to mind right now.


So many people ride the Metro, incidents are inevitable. I'm glad I got to participate in this training so in case I'm working when the next Metro "big one," happens, I'll be ready!

Sunday - Anything but a day of rest

For some reason, I have this idea that Sundays should be a relatively chill day to work. Maybe it's because Sundays are our "Career Enhancement" days (days where we have no scheduled training or activities scheduled for the day). Maybe it's because it's a weekend and I expect the citizens that we protect to relax and enjoy their last day off before heading back to the grind on Monday.

It seems like the citizens of Hillandale haven't gotten that memo.

Since working for the fire department, I've had some of my busiest shifts on Sundays. Calls just won't stop coming in, or somehow something is happening that keeps us busy. This past Sunday was a perfect example.

The day started with myself, Lt. TB and Bill going up to Gaithersburg to run the Pikes Peak 10k. Because we left a little late, we got there JUST as the race was starting (I still needed to register!). Despite our 11th hour arrival, we all got to run the race and it worked out fine. We met up with some other guys in the department who ran the race, spent some time talking and eating, then headed back to the station.

Once we got back to the station, got cleaned up and got some lunch, I was hoping to relax for the rest of the shift. However, I was driving the medic unit and M712 rarely has a quiet day. We did have a couple hour stretch where we didn't run any calls, but we filled those hours by doing some training drills. I'm working to get checked off to drive the ladder truck, so there were some things I needed to work on. We set up a rope hauling system, which is definitely an important skill to know if you're assigned to the truck company for the day. It was a great drill...one that I know I'll need to practice again.

We didn't run a lot of calls during the rest of the shift, but the ones we did run were really interesting...

We ran one call where a little girl got burned pretty badly by some cooking oil. She accidentally bumped a pan with boiling oil in it and spilled it all over her arm. She was covered with 2nd and 3rd degree burns...truly terrible. We rushed her down to Children's Hospital so she could get the best care. She was really brave throughout the whole ordeal though...she only cried a little bit.

Then, just after midnight, we ran a call for an injured person after a fall. We got to the house and our dispatchers advised us we might have to force our way into the house. Sure enough, the doors were locked and no one was answering. One of the house's windows had an AC unit in it...we were able to remove the AC unit and I climbed through the window and into the house. There in the kitchen was an elderly man, laying on the floor. Aside from a swollen hand, he wasn't hurt at all. I let the rest of the crew in, we checked him out and he refused to go to the hospital. We tried talking him into going (his hand was REALLY swollen), but he didn't want to go. Well, we couldn't kidnap him and force him to go, so eventually we let him be. Fortunately, a friend of his showed up and stayed the night with him.

We didn't have any more calls after that, and I ended up in bed around 1am. Another "sleepy" Sunday in the books.