Bowser orders review of response to Metro smoke incident

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is just as upset as everyone else over Monday's incident on Metro and the tragic loss of life. She says she wants answers to how firefighters responded and if there was a communication breakdown. If there are problems uncovered, she says she wants them fixed.

Bowser visited a downtown firehouse on Tuesday -- one of the many places that responded to the Metro incident.

Bowser spoke to FOX 5 after thanking the firefighters for their dangerous work.

Our first question to her was about the public's fear about riding on Metro.

"I'm very concerned obviously as well," she said. "First of all, we had a very scary situation for everybody involved in a smoke-filled train. An unfortunate loss of life."

Bowser has ordered a full review of Monday's response, including reports of people stuck on train cars and firefighters ordered not to rush in because of a communication breakdown with Metro. At first, Bowser shied away from the issue.

"I don't know about any time gaps," said Mayor Bowser. "I think there is a lot of discussion about it. That's why it's important for the NTSB. And we will certainly do our own deep dive into when the calls came in and when our first responders arrived at the scene and were able to safely go on the tracks."

Although the full investigation is being conducted by the NTSB, Bowser wants local response answers as soon as next week.

She has instructed the city administrator to lead the investigation, which includes questioning the interim fire chief.

We asked her if she believes the communication between Metro and D.C. Fire and EMS needs help.

"I will see," she told us. "We want to make sure that we get all the information we need and communicated from Metro and vice versa."

Bowser spent Monday night at several hospitals in the city and talked to nearly a dozen patients.

We asked the mayor if she planned to ride Metro to show riders it is safe to ride. She told us she plans to do it in the near future.