WASHINGTON – Federal investigators plan to hold two days of hearings in June into last month’s fatal smoke incident at a busy downtown Metro station.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that the hearings would be held June 23 and 24 at the agency’s D.C. office at L’Enfant Plaza.
The hearings will focus on conditions that led to the electrical arcing, which created the yellow, acrid smoke, plus emergency response efforts, Metro’s ongoing efforts to improve safety since the deadly derailment in 2009 and the state of Metro’s infrastructure.
Individuals who will participate in the hearings will be announced at a later date, the agency says.
On Jan. 12, passengers stuck on a Yellow Line train near the L’Enfant Plaza Station waited up to 45 minutes before firefighters began to help them escape the smoke-filled train and tunnel. Meanwhile hundreds of people poured out of the downtown station coughing or vomiting – many with soot under their noses. Dozens were hospitalized and an Alexandria woman, Carol Glover, died as a result of smoke inhalation.
Confusion over whether the electrified third rail was deactivated plus public safety radios that didn’t work properly hindered rescue efforts.
