Loudoun County

Loudoun County Firefighters Using Metro Simulator to Train

Metro's Silver Line is still years from arriving in Loudoun County, but local firefighters already are preparing to respond to potential threats.

The Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Department is using two old Metro cars to train to respond to everything from a fire to a terrorist attack. News4 got a first look on Tuesday at the setup in Leesburg.

Firefighters are learning to respond to anything that arises once the tracks are in place and Silver Line trains are in service in the county.

“We’ll train from one spectrum to the other," Lt. Chris Frank said.

The simulator uses a smoke machine to mimic smoke on the tracks. Everything from the distance from the train to the fence line, and the drop from the train to the ground, was set up to match actual trains and stations.

Fire department planner Maria Figueroa Taylor worked with Metro for years to set up the Metro simulator.  

“I think the people who have been driving by here and seeing the cars are thinking, 'What are they doing?'" she said. "Now, they will know what we are doing if we ever have to respond to an emergency.”

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