Metro drill held at Yellow Line bridge over the Potomac. Hydrants that had apparently been broken for years, fixed in time for the drill.
Motorists traveling the 14th Street Bridge complex between Virginia and Washington, D.C. had an interesting view Saturday morning. An occupied Metro train sat in the middle of the Yellow Line bridge crossing the Potomac River, with what appeared to be smoke pouring out of one end of the train.
This was all part of a training exercise involving firefighters, EMS workers, Metro workers and police, from the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland.
After confirming power had been cut, firefighters with fire and rescue equipment traveled along the tracks to put out the fire and “rescue” the “victims”. Many of the “victims” were brought to a triage area set up in East Potomac Park.
The dry standpipe system along the tracks was charged. A fire engine hooked up to the hydrant directly under the bridge on the DC side. As STATter 911 first reported last week, that hydrant had apparently been out of service for years. It was one of four nearby hydrants in East Potomac Park and West Potomac Park found to be broken during citywide hydrant testing earlier this year. The National Park Service says its crews finished working on two of the hydrants on Tuesday and will fix the other two in November.
