911:: Pentagon attack

[Guest guest]

Opening some roads and the 14th Street bridge so Federal

workers can get home. Trains will be allowed to move at

1800 hours unless they find a new problem/threat. Some

roads/bridges still closed, notably Memorial Bridge and

Arlington Blv/US-50 and Washington Blvd and VA-110 past

the Pentagon.

Personally, made it in with no problem. The highways

are nearly empty. Had to pull over for two convoys

moving under police escort. One was VA Dept of Trans-

portation trucks pulling generator-light trailers to the

Pentagon to help with rescue and recovery operations

through the night. Another was the Fairfax County Mobile

Command Center and a Fairfax Co Fire box-type truck that

I suspect contains equipment for the Urban Rescue Team.

The sky is full of military and MedEvac helicopters but

completely empty of the usual jets from Dulles and

National Airports. It's downright eerie. Falls Church

just sounds completely different.

The day shift was doubled up and, for a short time, Falls

Church answered Arlington County calls on our end of their

county (Pentagon is in the far south of Arlington county,

adjacent to andria; Falls Church is on the west border

with Arlington County). We're back to normal now.

land and DC National Guard Military Police Division

has been Federalized and ordered to active duty. The first

convoys are already rolling out of their armories to secure

the Pentagon and other Federal buildings.

For now, the Pentagon and the military services are still

trying to find out who was in the building. For military

personnel, they're doing a 'telephone muster' to count

heads. Casualties are probably going to be several hundred

dead and another hundred injured badly enough for hospital

treatment.

For now, local blood centers are only taking O-Neg (the

'universal donor' blood type) in order to help those critically

injured. The blood centers are making appointments throughout

the day and night for tomorrow and the rest of the week,

anticipating that any not used here in the Northern Virginia/

District of Columbia area will be needed in New York.

Incident command is settling in. Logistics officer calling in

fuel trucks to refuel the pumpers and ladders that have been on

scene all day. Personnel is swapping out fatigued crews and

putting in fresh, often volunteers or fresh legs from outlying

suburbs, Loudoun and Prince counties (that's like San

sending help to San Francisco, for you folks on the left

coast). Stations from even farther out moved pieces in to

fill emptied stations. The Pentagon is still burning but most

of the major hot spots have been knocked down.

Locally, we had (still have) worries. Nine kids still haven't

been picked up from the after-school latchkey activities.

Their parents work at the Pentagon. Are the parents just

delayed by the traffic and chaos? We're praying that that is

the case. It's too damned close to home.

COG ('Council of Governments', a joint DC, MD, VA, & Federal

Government 'thing' that coordinates joint operations in the

DC area) is now in a teleconference. My Chief is participating

so I may learn more after the tele-meeting. I've had Arlington

on 'scan' to try to pick up what's going on there and traffic

has slowed down. They're settling in for the long haul, rehab

and body recovery. State police are running off the gawkers

stopping on I-395 to get a look or a snapshot. Idiots are drawn

to disasters like flies to dog sh*t.

Prayers and blood... give blood tomorrow so that at least some

of the survivors can be saved.

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