[Ares-races] RACES Activated Following DC-Area Train Derailment

[BillLennox@aol.com]

From:  www.arrl.org

RACES Activated Following DC-Area Train Derailment

NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 29, 2002--The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
(RACES) in Montgomery County, Maryland, has activated following a passenger
train derailment in the Washington, DC, area. Montgomery County Deputy
RACES Officer John Creel, WB3GXW, reports that up to 11 cars of an Amtrak
train bound for the nation's capital from Chicago were lying on their sides. 
Creel
said many people were injured, some seriously. No fatalities have been 
reported. 

"The 146.955 repeater is being used," Creel said. "We will be staffing the 
Hospital
Radio Net." Creel said 100-degree temperatures were complicating the rescue 
effort.
The train wreck occurred in Kensington, Maryland, just north of Washington. 

At least 14 RACES members responded to the activation, and one
operator--Montgomery County RACES Officer Howard Gorden, W3CQH--was at
the scene of the crash. Other operators have been stationed at the Montgomery
County Emergency Operations Center as well as at two local hospitals--Suburban
Hospital in Bethesda and Holy Cross in Silver Spring. Creel said amateurs may 
be
deployed to local shelters as well. 

Creel said much of the traffic the RACES team was handling concerned 
casualties.
"There are a lot of 'walking wounded' that they may need to move to 
shelters," he
said. In addition to the 2-meter repeater net, Creel said, RACES members also 
were
helping to operate the county's 800-MHz trunked radio system. Although the
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) has not activated, Creel said, many
RACES members also belong to ARES. 

Rescue workers were attempting to free passengers trapped in the rail cars, 
one of
which reportedly rolled down an embankment. Some passengers kicked out windows
to escape, but others remained trapped, according to news reports. 

Dozens of rescuers are on the scene. The train derailed at approximately 2 PM 
Eastern Time--some 10 minutes from its
destination. 


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