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!