First responders participate in an emergency drill near the Forest Hills station on the Orange Line. Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio.
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The MBTA said they warned neighbors of an emergency drill they were conducting on the Orange Line train near Forest Hills station Sunday morning. For those who didn’t get the memo, it would have appeared a train derailed and lots of people were injured.
Joe O'Hare, the Superintendent of Operations at Boston EMS, said the drill was an annual event. He said train accidents don't happen often, but when they do, it's best to be prepared.
"It allows us to look at our strengths and our weaknesses and make corrections as necessary," he said.
When a neighbor, Soni, went outside to walk her dog and saw the flashing lights of fire trucks, ambulances and police cruisers, she had no idea what was going on.
"My first thought was that there's a serious fire somewhere...I was just worried that someone might have gotten hurt on the tracks," Soni said. She was relieved to learn it was just a drill.
The volunteer patients stayed in character, holding their arm or their hand or even limping as if they had real injuries. They were then put in an ambulance and whisked away.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@wbzSausville) has more:
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