This (Friday) morning, there was another example of why the Federal Transit Administration is taking control of oversight of safety for the problem-plagued subway system serving the Nation’s Capital. Surae Chinn from WUSA-TV in Washington reports that DC Fire and EMS Department firefighters were surprised when third rail power came up and trains started moving while they were still handling a small fire on the track at the Foggy Bottom Station.

Communications between Metro’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) and area fire departments is a decades old problem that Metro fails to seriously address. On the evening of May 10, 1996, I was at Virignia’s Pentagon City Station as Arlington County firefighters investigated an arcing on the tracks that sent a fireball through the tunnel into DC. Firefighters and a battalion chief were quite upset over the difficulty in getting Metro to follow their instruction on shutting third rail power. This greatly delayed the handling of the incident as firefighters were ordered to leave the track area.

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Previously:

When will somebody finally address what really killed Carol Glover?

Now, 19-years later, it’s shameful Metro still can’t get it right. Recently, area fire chiefs were able to get Metro to fund a fire department liaison officer to staff Metro’s ROCC part of the day. But that’s hit or miss. Considering the chaos the National Transportation Board found at the ROCC during the deadly January 12 fire at L’Enfant Plaza , a fire department official should be in place any time trains are running.

Surae Chinn, WUSA9.com: