TYSONS, Va. — First responders in the Tysons Corner area converged on the Greensboro Metro station Sunday morning for a full-scale emergency response drill on the Silver Line platform.
Even with massive safety fixes underway, Metro is still carrying out its required quarterly emergency response drills. On Sunday, a full-scale emergency response drill was held in Fairfax County on the border with Vienna. The last drill was held in Alexandria in March.
The training scenario on Sunday involved first responders evacuating a disabled, smoke-filled Silver Line train in a tunnel.
“We know we’ve have a lot of smoke, fire type incidents, so these are the type of drills we want to enhance and improve on,” said Metro Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik.
He said they try to make the drills as realistic as possible. But one of the main reasons for doing them is to get everyone on the same page, especially when it comes to communication, which is critical during an emergency.
First responders had previous communication problems during the deadly L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident on Jan. 12, 2015.
Sunday’s drill is the fifth full-scale drill since the deadly Metro smoke incident. Pavlik says the next drill will be in August. He says it will be across the Yellow Line bridge — between L’Enfant Plaza and Pentagon Metro station.
