10 The Work Force March 2015 Metro North crash response involves many from CSEA Editor’s note: The terrific, deadly collision between a Metro North commuter train and a car recently showed the many roles CSEA members occupy when disaster strikes. In this instance, one member in particular played a critical role. CSEA Westchester Medical Center Unit President Roger King had just cleared the scene of a car wreck on the Taconic State Parkway when he heard an urgent voice come across his fire radio. Car versus train. Commerce Street railroad crossing. Flipping on the emergency lights and siren in his Valhalla Fire Department chief’s truck, King began weaving through rush hour traffic. Balancing volunteer firefighting and a gig as Westchester Medical Center’s fire inspector, King is no stranger to incidents near his hometown’s busy Metro-North commuter rail tracks. What awaited him shortly down the road was the worst scene he’d witnessed in more than 30 years of firefighting. A packed Metro- North train coming northbound hit a Mercedes sport utility vehicle that was inexplicably crossing the railroad tracks despite warning signals, killing the SUV driver and five passengers aboard the train as the vehicle and first rail car were consumed by flames. Taking control of chaos King was the first firefighter to arrive. Right away, he called for neighboring departments. “It was just chaos,” King said. “From the railroad crossing, you had to walk up about eight to 10 train cars through quite a bit of snow. At first, I could see flames and it looked like just the car was hit. Then I could see the flames had spread, at which point I realized we had a really serious situation.” Slowed by the foot of snow alongside the tracks, King made his way toward the front of the train. Along the way, he encountered injured passengers. “By the time I got to the end car that was on fire, I was told there were people that were not able to get out,” King said. “I knew there were going to be fatalities. I was calling for more ambulances. We still had to get people off the train.” King and other first responders evacuated passengers still aboard. The railroad’s third rail, a cause of the deadly fire, was still a danger. Dazed passengers moved to safety in the adjacent Gate of Heaven Cemetery. As fire chief, King serves as incident commander. Taking charge, he directed passengers to be escorted across the now-closed parkway to a nearby rock climbing gym. Firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze. “It was a very difficult job for all the crews there,” King said. “It was not quick at all due to the steel railroad car. Everything burned pretty well, plus we were dealing with the toxic smoke from the plastics inside. For the first 10 minutes we were there, we had to wait for confirmation that the third rail was no longer live. It took at least 45 minutes to before the fire was extinguished.” Praise for first responders King extended praise for all responders, noting the cooperation between agencies. “It was a very big effort,” he said. “The county was involved, supplying the crime scene investigation and putting together a command post. Everyone involved did an excellent job.” From the CSEA members answering the initial emergency phone calls to town paramedics and his own CSEA members waiting to triage victims in nearby Westchester Medical Center’s emergency room and burn center, King noted the role good training played in the response. At Westchester Medical Center, which serves as the region’s trauma center, CSEA members participate in mass casualty incident trainings to keep their skills sharp, King said. The same goes for volunteers such as himself, who count on trainings at the Westchester County Fire Training Center to stay prepared. Trainings are crucial, but nothing could have prepared responders for what awaited on the Metro-North tracks, King said. “It’s one thing to do these trainings in a controlled setting, but it’s another thing when people are dying and flames are spreading,” King said. “It becomes instinct.” — Jessica Ladlee CSEA activist Roger King on the scene recently of a car crash in Valhalla, where he is the volunteer fire department chief. He was first on the scene of the Metro North-car crash, and coordinated the response. “It was a very big effort. The county was involved, supplying the crime scene investigation and putting together a command post. Everyone involved did an excellent job.”
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