Smoke? Fire? Who Cares?

From an anonymous reader:

Last Thursday, there was a fire in one of the lamps at Foggy Bottom. Tons of smoke was billowing out.

My boyfriend and I jogged all the way back upstairs and yelled to the station manager "there's a fire on the platform!"

She looked annoyed and said "I know! I already called the police and fire department."

Don't the station managers have fire extinguishers?

What kind of Metrorail system doesn't keep a fire extinguisher on hand in case of a small-to-medium fire, like this?

We have to WAIT for the fire department?

And she didn't even bother to evacuate the station to protect people from smoke and fire!

She didn't even bother to come out of her kiosk to look. She stayed behind the glass while several concerned people were telling her about the fire.

It could have been a backpack someone placed up there with an IED in it. I could have been anything. She had no idea--and didn't seem to care.

The trains kept running, and there was not a single service disruption as a result of the fire, which is frightening. They didn't even make an announcement warning those who may be sensitive to inhaling tons of smoke.

Wow. NEGLIGENCE.

If that HAD been a bomb, and she was notified of the smoke ahead of time, and 10 minutes later it went off, there would be hell to pay.