Haverhill, North Andover Take Part in Mock Commuter Rail Emergency in Bradford

(Additional photographs below.)

First responders rushed to the Bradford commuter rail station Sunday morning as party of a drill to evaluate readiness and provide practice under emergency conditions.

During the mutual aid response test, Haverhill Fire, Police, Transit Police, North Andover Fire, Pridestar Trinity EMS successfully evacuated both a wheelchair-bound passenger and an operator from a smoke-filled train. Michael McCabe, chief of enterprise security and resilience for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, provided an overview of the mock calamity scenario playing out at Bradford Station.

“There’s fire and smoke onboard, multiple injuries onboard that will vary from minor injuries to major injuries and have different requirements of the first responders to get those patients and people out of the train safely and evacuate the train as safely as possible,” he told WHAV.

McCabe said commuter rail and subway tests are conducted at least once each year and when new stations are opened or as communities request them. Planning starts six months in advance and includes equipment, volunteers and all other aspect.

At the midpoint of the test, Undersecretary of Transportation Policy Samantha E. Silverberg explained state partners include train operator Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Keolis Commuter Services and MassDOT.

“So far, I think we are seeing pretty phenomenal teamwork. We’re seeing folks problem solve in real time. We saw them bring a customer off in a wheelchair. We saw them do an extraction of the operator. We’re going to continue to see more of that as the exercise goes on,” she said.

McCabe said mock emergency volunteers include regulars who follow from exercise to exercise to actors from such school as Massachusetts Maritime Academy. MBTA officials have said the exercise is “designed to establish a learning environment for transportation and public safety officials to exercise emergency response plans, policies and procedures as they pertain to a mass casualty event on an MBTA Commuter Rail train.”