Filled the train. More on that apology in a minute. First a new report released by the mayor who promised transparency into how the d. C. Government reacted to the disaster. That report is bringing more blame and criticism of the area Transit System that transports hundreds of thousands of riders every day. We begin our coverage tonight with stephanie ramirez. Reporter new in the investigations of the fatal incident on monday, the 37page initial report released saturday shows emails that say there was a Radio Communication issue reported just days before the fatal incident. One email dated january 8 says d. C. F. D. Units responded to the metro station yesterday and reported no 800 megahertz radio coverage anywhere in the station. Theres also a written account in the report from one of the First Responders to reach the train that rescued one squad member described helping stranded passengers for approximately ten minutes before reinforcements arrived. The personal account saying this is also not a knock on the arrival of other Fire Companies as Radio Communication was nonexistent in the tunnel. Form channel 9 reporter, now consultant on matters involving metro fire and ems pointed out other issues with metros communications. How long it was before First Responders were told of trapped passengers. He also criticized d. C. 911 center for taking too long to dispatch crews. When it came to metros role. These problems that were seeing in the preliminary report are longstanding issues with metro when they deal with emergencies. It could happen again tomorrow. Reporter which is why today i asked the mayor her thoughts on whether she feels ramada is responsible. What we committed to was a review of the whole incident. Were still gathering information. I think the information ramada gathers will fully lay out the picture of what happened. Reporter one thing she said is seeing a report like this five days after this fatal tragedy is incredible. Its something you dont normally see in d. C. , he says. Here at the metro stop, stephanie ramirez, wusa 9 news. Lives were on the line and communication was down. The head of the Firefighters Union says todays report confirms metro failed to supply First Responders with needed information when they headed into the smokefilled metro tunnel. Radio to help communicators communicate were of little use. Firefighters told us the first dispatch said nothing about people trapped in the tunnel, smokefilled train, that sort of thing. Have you confirmed that . According to these reports it looks like it was confirmed, that that information was left off the initial dispatch. Our radios were down. They couldnt communicate with the aboveground units because the repeater system in the tunnels werent working. Radio communications were dead. What does that mean . Cause of delay. Line of sight where theyre sending runners back and forth. And cell phones. Cell phones. I mean we need to come up with a better plan b. Metro makes an polling for mondays an apology for mondays smoke that left one person dead. Metro says we apologize to all metro riders, particularly to the family of those injured or impacted by the events on monday afternoon. You have our absolute commitment that we will provide a full accounting of what happened on that day from the cause of the smoke to our Emergency Response. Even before the National Transportation safety board completes its investigation we will take immediate action to address any interim recommendations. People trapped on those trains were gasping for air. People on that train called 911 for help and those callers talked to our surae chinn. Shes live. Reporter bruce, Justin Moreno was in the back of the train watching people passing out. He is caller number six in todays report. He said he called 911 thinking they only had minutes to live. Please remain calm. Please do not open the doors. Reporter passengers did remain calm, but Justin Moreno could see the panic in peoples eyes. And he remembers a family with two small children in particular. Just seeing children struggling like that and then one of the children said i just want to take a nap. Reporter he said each time the operator tried to override the system and back up to the platform, the train instead kept going forward, deeper into the smoke. He says the train operator contacted central command, but was met with no urgency, indicated by a posting on youtube. They are holding the train on the far plaza. You need to get in contact with them to ask them to move that train off the platform so i can get this train on the platform. Reporter moreno says they had enough room to return to the platform despite a train behind them but they had no control. They could have backed our train back close to it. Im not sure why they didnt. That train was a ghost train, too. There was no one on it because i think they evacuated everyone. Reporter thats when he decided to call 911 telling the operator its going to be a bad situation here very soon. In his mind, he was thinking the worst. I didnt want to say were all going to die, because that would have alarmed, you know, everyone around. Reporter they were in that train suffocating for 30 minutes before the first firefighters arrived. He says he was determined not to die, thinking he had too much to live for those waiting at home. But he still let it cross his mind. We were probably between 10, 20 minutes of dying, everyone on that train, that entire train. Reporter help finally came. We saw the flashlights coming through the smoke. How thankful were you. Oh, man, seeing those, it was amazing. Metro really needs to get their act together, because they came close to losing an entire trainful of people in that tunnel. Reporter and Justin Moreno still rides the train to work, but he cant bring himself to ride it and return home after work, because he says he cant go through that dark tunnel again. He was so close to pulling that emergency lever inside that train, but he waited until firefighters came. He said he was so close to it to selfevacuate, but at that point there was so much smoke he knew he couldnt see in front of him and they couldnt escape without injury or safely without guidance. Bruce . Surae chinn. Thanks for that report. This weeks metro disaster underscored the need for more training of metro staff. City councilman jack evans thinks so. Hes a representative of the metro board. Evans says the disaster in the metro tunnel sends a message about the Transit Systems preparedness. We are a prime area for a terrorist threat in washington, d. C. In the metropolitan region. Giving that to be the case, every one of our public facility should be training all the time in the event we have Something Like that happening. A lot of people thought thats what this was, a terrorist attack. It could have been. It could very well have been. Again, it doesnt look like the response was where we want it to be. We have to really start on tuesday and reexamine the training that is given to our employees, the metro operators and to the con titchents who ride constituents who ride the season. Officials are scheduled to brief the d. C. Council on tuesday. The full metro board meets on thursday of next week. The ntsb says its very early in the investigation and theres still much work to be done. They also caution the d. C. Government report released today that only one part of the Emergency Response. The probe includes gathering information on disruption of power systems, maintenance of the Transit System, Emergency Response and evacuation. Many of you have been posting your comments about todays d. C. Government report on the metro disaster to social media. Weve got a few of your comments on facebook and twitter tonight. Barton fairfax, hes asking the question, will ramada be using riders and taxpayer dollars to run a Washington Post apology ad . And on facebook, adrian white wants to know why didnt metro do something when d. C. Fire and rescue told them about communication problems and why didnt d. C. s own Communication System work . Rain headed our way on sunday. What about mlk day on monday . Lets go to first alert meteorologist erica grow. The good news is the rain will not be with us any more once we get to mlk day but tomorrow will be wet, especially for folks who live east of ithe 5. This is a live view of doppler 9000. Theres nothing going on even remotely close to us at the moment. As we zoom out here ill show you the two areas of interest that are going to combine. A cold front approaching from the midwest, from the great lake states and moisture asserting up from the carolinas. Those two will combine. You can see that neither system is very impressive right now, but as they combine and converge, they will start to produce more rain and as i mentioned before, looks like the point of focus is going to be in d. C. And points east of that, so in southern maryland, youre going to get most of the rain further to the north and west, youre not going to get much at all. You can see that temperature throughout the beltway are at or maybe even above freezing in a lot of spots. Like chevy space, 34. 36 in Downtown Washington right now. Were down to 29 in waldorf. 39 in reston. Overnight tonight temperatures arent going to fall. In some areas theyre going to rise. That is good news with this rain on the way. We dont have the concern for icy spots out there. Showers possible though as early as 6 00 in the morning and the showers will overspread the region especially east of the i95 corridor by 10 00 a. M. Coming up, well track this rain for you with 9 futurecast so you can see exactly how much to expect in your backyard and that colder and breezy weather that moves in behind it. Its all ahead in the first alert seven day. Back to you. New tonight, president barack obama is seeking an increase in taxes on the wealthiest americans in a proposal to be announced in the upcoming state of the Union Address. The president plans to raise the Capital Gains rate and eliminate a tax break on money thats inherited. The government would then use that revenue to fund new tax credits and other costsaving measures for the middle class. His proposals are expected to be announced during his state of the Union Address on tuesday. Next week, Council Candidate barry plans to turn himself in to authorities. Barry with his attorney will surrender to d. C. Police on tuesday. According to a police report, the 34yearold barry allegedly threatened a teller at the pnc bank earlier this week. The report also says barry picked up a trash can and launched it into a Bank Surveillance camera. Its unclear what charges barry is facing from that bank incident. Barry has been in trouble with the law before. He pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and pcp in 2011. In 2013 he was charged with driving under the influence. Barry, of course, is the son of the late former mayor marion barry. Just ahead on wusa 9 this saturday night, show of support for the men and women in blue in the nations capital. And a cop on heres some news you may find surprising. Were for an open internet for all. Were for creating more innovation and competition. Were for Net Neutrality protection. Now, heres some news you may find even more surprising. Were comcast. The only isp legally bound by full Net Neutrality rules. Comcast and time warner cable, together for more Net Neutrality protection. A sea of blue blanketed Downtown Washington today as hundreds ever Law Enforcement officers and their family members participated in a march and rally. Participants started with a moment of silence at the national Law Enforcement memorial to remember those who were injured or killed on the job. They later marched to the u. S. Capitol where Police Officers and their family members spoke about their commitment to serve the public. Law enforcement across this country is a family. And i think were related to Police Officers whether its in new york, in ferguson, or cleveland, because we do all have one thing in common. We are trying to serve. Todays event was organized by three wives of d. C. And Prince Georges County Police Officers. He was headed to possible crime scene, but tonight a boyd Police Officer is recovering from a crash. Police say the officer was not seriously hurt. He was driving westbound on Central Avenue with a siren and flashing lights on when another car somehow pulled into his path and crashed into the cruiser. Both vehicles ended up in a drainage ditch. The officer and a young passenger in the other vehicle were taken to the hospital for checkups. No word tonight on whether any charges have been filed against that driver. A woman is murdered in Howard County. Tonight authorities are searching for her brotherin law. Police issued an arrest warrant today for timothy mark fuller. He fatally shot 39yearold stacy fuller and set fire to her maryland residence. They believe he might be driving a 2005 white ford focus. Anybody with information about his whereabouts or this case should contact Howard County police. Well, suns out today. It felt pretty good. It was a little chilly, of course, but nothing unusual for this time of year, right . Right. Were going to get something thats a little bit unusual for midjanuary tomorrow and that is pockets of heavy rain. Well start off at a look at the michael son live weather cam. And a nice clear view of the jefferson memorial. No rain falling in the metro just yet. In fact, its pretty clear out there at the moment. 36 degrees at reagan national. Lots of clouds on the approach though. Notes the winds out of the south at 15 miles per hour. The wind has prevented our temperature from falling, and ive noted in just the past couple of hourly observations that the temperature has started to rise once again. Not only at reagan national, but at a couple other spots throughout the dmv as well. So that rain starts to move in before dawn on sunday. Its moving toward us from south to north and then the approaching cold front that you saw at the beginning of our newscast, thats approaching from the great lakes. When it combines with that moisture arriving from the south its going to enhance the amount of moisture that well sieve from this system. So the heavier rain, the focus of that convergence, that will happen just to the east of the i95 corridor. Youll see that in a second on 9 futurecast. In the afternoon on sunday, the cold front sweeps through. That will bring us drier air behind it but it will also be cooler and we could see a few snowflakes with that wrap around moisture on the back side of this system. Right now you can see theres nothing going on locally on satellite and radar. Here comes that cold front from the great lakes states that will combine with the southerly moisture still waiting in the wings. In 9 futurecast, here it comes just in time to wake up for many of us. 6 00 a. M. , still before sunrise. Its only lightly raining in southern maryland. Advancing this to 10 00 in the morning. Maybe you want to head out the door to services or heading out to brunch. It is going to be raining pretty heavily in northern e hour and things are starting to improve but not before receiving as much as maybe an inch of rain west of the i95 corridor. Were not going to see much of anything, just the wrap around moisture. The back side of the storm system producing a few showers and maybe a couple of snowflakes that melt right when they hit the ground. Then it turns breezy on monday. Martin luther king day, it will be a little chillier, too. Make sure you have the winter coat. Overnight tonight, mostly cloudy, showers will be east of i95, not only tonight before sunrise but also during the morning hours. The rain and showers will be most prevalent east of i95. Temperatures in the 30s and 40s sunday morning. In the afternoon as the cold front sweeps through, just a few lingering snowflakes and rain showers. Not a lot of activity whatsoever. And a high between 45 and 50. If you do get a couple of wet snowflakes, theyre going to melt right away. Winds will become northwesterly at 10 miles per hour. Monday partly cloudy and breezy. It will be pleasant enough to be outside with that high of 45 degrees. But you will notice the wind. In the first alert sevenday forecast, the chance for snow coming back in the forecast for a few days. But for the most part, its just looking like fluor rice. Maybe the flurries. Maybe the best chance for snow will be on wednesday. It doesnt look like much of anything. It looks very similar to what we had this past week where we just got that about much. Its not like were looking for snow. Im not a snow lover, sorry. Looked like an immature team last night. Tonight they show you why theyve grown up, the wizards up the net. He wasnt Randy Whitman reverted back to old school randy last night. You know, the randy thats not afraid to rip into his basketball team. And he had reason to be upset. He had just watched his team mail one in against the nets. Now once reporters left the locker room, im sure he ripped into them even worse. Now, i wonder if they got the message, bruce . Lets get to it. Nets and wizards. John wall, not a lot of energy last night. He got the energy going. This is classic john wall. To the cup and then the dish. Wall goes out of the screen. He had seven dimes. The nets were up by one at halftime. Then they went up by seven after the plumly flush. It looked like another upset. But then real grownman basketball. I amman, hear me i am man, hear me roar. Hes the reason they won. Wizards 9990. Thats what we needed to play all the time. I think last night we came out underestimated that team and they beat us pretty badly. I think we did a better job of being focused today, locked in on certain players. Indeed they did. The maryland terrapins are the best team in the big 10 right now by records. Pump the brakes on that. Still a long way to go. But its an impressive perch, i would say. Saturday was a clear statement to the rest of the league theyre a force to be reckoned with. Legendary coach gary williams, hall of famer honored during the game. He saw a good one. Jake for the twirl, the swirl. Hes a tough matchup. Tremble was the story though, crossing up the defender right before halftime. 4026. In the second half jarod with the stepback. One of eight different terps to score. Maryland 7559. He said the freshman was the x factor. Ive seen him do that many times. It was great to see jake got himself going and i thought defensively we were as good as weve been and have. I never made someone fall. I never made a move like that in my life. I was pretty excited myself. I didnt know what to do. I already started celebrating. All right, he had 26. Georgetown in a battle. 30 seconds to go. Smith rivera putting the hoyas up by one. He had 14 points. 15 second to go, Roosevelt Jones to the 10 to put the bulldogs back up by a single point. Six seconds to go. Isaac copeland, there goes my hero. Georgetown wins by 2, improving 125. Rookie, good game. He said get to the ball, get to the middle and make a play. He made a good play. Its tough to win a series. You go and learn. Im learning along with my teammates and were getting better. Georgetown 105 now. Hockey, an emotional homecoming in nashville. Bittersweet because he received a standing ovation from the crowd. He coached there 15 years. Bitter because the predators, his old team, beat his new team the caps 43. Lets get out there tonight. Justin peterson goal, this is significant because normally the starter gets a rest. He had been in 21 straight games. Dallasback, there up 30. Dont call it come back. To the third we go, jaime bends it around peters. 54. Full day in sports for you there as you see the caps going down. Maryland, hey, man. Looking at tomorrows games, who do you like. Im going colts. Really . Colts to upset and the seahawks winning over the packers. Okay. Erica is going to update the forecast when we come back. Its a holiday weekend. Temperatures in the upper 40s. Rain to start the day and then it will turn breezy and a little bit cooler. Monday a high of 45 wont necessarily feel like it all day. 45 degrees, but at least it will be completely dry so you wont have to worry about rain showers for any of your service activities. Weve got a couple of seconds. Do you want to change that upset . No, im going with the colts. Who you got . Pick the team. Pats. My uncles a pats fan. Thank you for watching. Well see you tomorrow back here. Bye, good night. Thank you cable. For the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you. We wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. The numbers dont lie. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability, and hd picture quality. Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price guaranteed for two years and get a 400 bonus with a two year agreement. Hurry its your last chance this offer ends january 17th. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v here we are, a mist, a sea of red, bundled up to fight the frigid elements, the hearts of capitals players and fans have never been warmer. The winter classic is more than a game. Its a celebration of the sport of past and present. Its a tip of the cap to rocking the red and unleashing the fury
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