One Emerging Angle: Was The Fire Department Properly Notified Of Metro Crash?

The Washington Times picked up what may become an emerging angle from the Metro Crash---the tensions between WMATA and the D.C. Fire Department. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin basically called out WMATA for initially downplaying the extent of the crash. The Times writes:

"Fire officials stated bluntly Monday night that Metro's original description of the accident understated its magnitude, and it was only when the first rescuers arrived at the scene that the sort of help needed was finally summoned.

'A little after five o'clock we responded to what was believed to be a small incident,' D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin said. 'The first arriving company recognized the fact that apparently two trains had collided.' Fire officials eventually sounded three alarms, summoning hundreds of rescuers and implementing their mass- casualty operations."

It's unclear whether rescue work was delayed as a result or whether WMATA or 911 dispatchers made errors in communicating the severity of the crash. "[The Office of Unified Communications] is not under our purview," explains Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite. "We're not responsible for OUC....I would be curious to hear what the first 911 call was reporting."

Fire Department Spokesperson Alan Etter refused to say when the department sounded three alarms and summoned all those rescue workers. "It was an evolving event---resources were called as they were needed," he stated in an e-mail to City Desk. "In other words, nobody jumped up and said---this is a third alarm incident---at the height of involvement we had an equivalent of three alarms on scene---more than 200 personnel--with mutual aid, etc."

The department's own notification records point to such a response. It's unclear whether or not that response was timely.

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