DC Metro Tragedy
A DC Metro station filling up with smoke
On Monday, tragedy struck in DC after a Metro filled with smoke, leaving one woman dead and scores of passengers injured. A timeline of emergency response to the issue corroborates riders’ account that they waited at least 35 minutes trapped in a dark, smoky tunnel before firefighters finally began to rescue them. This timeline reveals that after firefighters had arrived on the L’Enfant Plaza underground platform shortly after 3:30, they had to wait 13 minutes before moving into the tunnel and toward the train, since they needed assurance from Metro that power to the electrified third rail had been cut.
According to this timeline, the first rescues started soon after firefighters received permission to move into the tunnel, at 3:44, and after they walked single-file down 800 feet of track in the dark and smoke to reach the first of six cars on the train, and by this time it was nearly 4. This sequence helps to clarify how the District reacted to the emergency amid complaints from passengers that they were trapped for what seemed to be an “interminable” amount of time. One person, 61 year-old Carol Glover of Alexandria, died after being carried from the train, and 83 other passengers were taken to area hospitals, two of them in critical condition.
Metro and District officials have so far declined to comment publicly on specifics of the event, citing the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. However, authorities have been compiling a timeline for the federal agency, which is reconstructing the response and rescue, as well as trying to figure out what caused the incident. District fire officials first got a hint of trouble at around 3:18, when a construction worker called 911 to report smoke coming from a street vent at Ninth and Water Streets SW. At 3:22, Metro told the fire department that there was smoke in the station and, two minutes later, elevated that to “heavy smoke”. At 3:28, the fire department declared a “Metro tunnel box alarm”, meaning a possible fire in a tunnel and triggered the response of five engines, two trucks, a medic and an ambulance. The first firefighters arrived at L’Enfant Plaza Station near Seventh and D Streets SW at 3:31. By then, 911 operators had been flooded with calls, with firefighters rushing toward the station being met by hundreds of fleeing passengers. The first 911 call from a train passenger came at 3:33, saying that it was filling up with smoke.
At 3:44, Metro alerted firefighters that electricity to the third rail had been shut off, and it was now safe to enter the tunnel. Two more passengers called 911, asking whether or not help was on the way. One official briefed on the timeline said that the next news came at 4, when a paramedic was reported with a patient. DC Council member Kenyan McDuffie, who is chairman of the committee with oversight on fire, said that the currently unfolding details, as well as accounts of passengers about how long it took firefighters to respond, show how many questions still remain.
Alberto Nisman Investigation
Last month, Argentinean federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman died under mysterious circumstances, found dead at his home in Buenos Aires. The lawyer was set to testify during the investigation of the 1994 attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish center, which left 85 people. Nisman apparently had damning 
evidence against numerous high-ranking Argentinean politicians, including President Kirchner, accusing her of covering up alleged Iranian involvement in the attack more than 20 years ago. Both Kirchner and Iran have rejected these allegations. On January 18th, Nisman was found in his apartment, shot in the head, just hours before he was due to testify. While the death was ruled as a suicide, its convenient timing left many people suspicious.
Judge Fabiano Palmaghini, who is currently investigating the death of Nisman, has ordered tests to try and identify the genetic material found in his apartment. Anybody who could have visited Nisman on the day of his death will be asked to come forward and provide a DNA sample. One long-time friend of Nisman, Diego Lagomarsino, said that he was in the apartment on January 17th, the day before his death. He had lent Nisman the gun that was later found next to his body. Lagomarsino said that Nisman had asked for the gun because he feared for his family’s safety.
Kirchner has accused Lagomarsino to be a “fierce opponent” of the Argentinean government, and also tabled a bill to disband Argentina’s intelligence service. Kirchner claims that an agent had been feeding Nisman false information, in order to turn him against the government. However, many members of Argentina’s opposition have accused the government of ordering Nisman’s death to silence him before he could testify. Days before his scheduled hearing in Congress, he had published a 300-page report on the attack on the Amia Jewish Center, alleging that the president and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, among others, had conspired to protect Iranian suspects in the bombing case.
About Nelson Lewis
An exposure to politics at a young age had a profound effect on media maven Nelson Lewis, who worked as a volunteer for numerous Republican politicians in and around his native Savannah. Nelson worked as a reporter and eventually anchor at two Savannah television stations growing up, WJCL ABC-22 and WTGS FOX-28, also recording voice teasers for airing on Fridays on WJCL-FM KIX 96 and previewing his upcoming stories, which aired on the Sunday evening news.
One of Nelson’s favorite experiences at WJCL was reporting live from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade (America’s second largest) from 1998-2000. Continuing in the spirit of his grandfather’s pioneering and trailblazing footsteps (he was the first to bring all-color television and stereo to the Savannah market), Nelson became the first person in Savannah market to bring a kid’s perspective to local news as its first youth reporter. In fact, one of the competing stations, WSAV NBC-3 hired their own youth reporter, Sean Champion, 18 months after Nelson began his reports and WJCL/TGS’s ratings dramatically increased.
Work In Political Media
While a sophomore and junior at Lynn University, Nelson Lewis hosted “Politijam”, a lively political debate show that became well known across the university campus and served as the media editor of the univeristy’s weekly EPulse newspaper. While at Lynn, Nelson was selected to represent the entire undergraduate student population as a member of Lynn University’s Academic Task Force, charged with the duty of streamlining the core curriculum of the universities.
While attending Lynn’s College of International Communication, Nelson developed a friendship with Irving R. Levine, a well-known and nationally recognized correspondent for NBC News who became the network’s first full time economics correspondent, and was the creator of the precursor to CNBC. After a 45-year career in journalism, Levine went on to become Dean of Lynn’s communication program. After finishing college, Nelson Lewis followed Levine’s suggestion and moved to Washington, DC where his first job was as a press intern for a Republican congressman, which then led to a job booking at the Fox News Channel from 2006-2010. Here, he was able to put his love of politics and interest in the Republican Party to good use.
Upon the suggestion of Mr. Levine, Nelson Lewis enrolled in the Masters of Professional Studies in Journalism (International Politics) program at Georgetown University in 2009, where a special emphasis was placed on the dissolution of America’s Fairness Doctrine and on the major player in its demise, Bruce Fein.
Nelson was honored to be invited to speak at a roast honoring Levine’s 2009 death at the National Press Club, where he spoke alongside Levine family members and contemporaries such as former Meet the Press Moderator Marvin Kalb. He subsequently wrote a letter to the editor published in The Hill newspaper eulogizing Levine as a “top-notch raconteur” who many others have tried to emulate.
From his work at Fox News, Nelson Lewis was able to take a firsthand role in the DC journalism scene, and was blessed with the opportunity of meeting entertainment, political, and academic luminaries on a daily basis, including numerous sitting and former representatives, senators, governors and cabinet secretaries. These unique experiences gave Nelson a front row seat to many historic events and gave him a firsthand experience of how the Washington system works, from how laws are created to how news is made.
Through Nelson Lewis’ work creating Her Golf Network, coupled with his extensive booking experiences in segment producing gained at America’s highest rated cable news channel and through his time performing key internships at places such as WPBT’s Nightly Business Report in Miami, where he honed his scriptwriting skills, and at WTOC in Savannah, where he provided copyediting and on-site production assistance at the 2004 Sea Island G-8 summit, have provided him with a solid foundation and understanding of the news business. His time as a reporter/anchor growing up prior to his undergraduate studies helped him get an early start at doing what he loves most, reporting.
