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A service marking the deaths of Catlett Volunteer Fire and Rescue members Mark Miller and Matthew Smith was held at the new fire station in Catlett Monday. The two were killed in 1989 when their firetruck collided with an Amtrak train.
Tina Arms (third from left), former girlfriend of fallen firefighter Matt Smith, weeps during a memorial service for Smith and Mark Miller, who were killed in the line of duty in 1989. Seated with Arms are, from left, Smith's mother, Penny, his uncle Frankie Freeman, and Ernie Colbert, who survived the crash of Wagon 7.
Wagon 7 hit an Amtrak train, killing two firefighters and injuring three more, as well as 57 people on the train.
Fire and Rescue Master Technician Charlie Hunter rings a bell in remembrance of the men of Wagon 7. |
By CATHY DYSON
More than 220 people filled the Catlett Fire & Rescue Company Monday night, but no one made a sound when the scanner crackled at 7:38 p.m.
For many gathered, the moment had been branded into their minds 20 years ago. The voice of the Fauquier County dispatcher took them back in time as she made a special announcement: On Sept. 28, 1989, a Catlett firetruck was on its way to a call when it crashed into an Amtrak train.
Two firefighters--Mark Miller and Matt Smith--were killed instantly, and three others on the truck were injured.
As the dispatcher finished, tears flowed from many in the audience. Then, there was the piercing sound of a single bell being rung 10 times, twice for each fireman aboard Wagon 7 that night.
The 20-year anniversary marked the first formal memorial the Catlett department held for those who died in the line of duty.
"Sept. 28, 1989, changed the community and this fire department as a whole," said Chief Kalvyn Smith. "We never want to forget these guys."
'FIND MY BOYS'
Smith was the assistant chief in 1989. He had been the best man in Miller's wedding and spent a lot of time with the Millers, one of several Mennonite families in the southern Fauquier area of Catlett.
When Smith arrived on the scene that night, he saw firefighters trying to contain the fireball that erupted after the 22-ton truck crashed into the 1,290-ton train.
Carnage filled the landscape. Both locomotives and 11 of the 16 train cars had derailed. Of the 399 passengers and crew onboard, 57 were injured.
The accident triggered the largest fire and rescue effort in Fauquier history, according to The Fauquier Citizen newspaper. Fire and rescue companies from six counties responded, as well as the U.S. Army and the Washington Hospital Center. There were 15 engines, 46 ambulances and seven helicopters on the scene, according to a report from the U.S. Fire Administration.
Smith found Chief Clyde Lomax, who had responded to the scene of the original call for a vehicle fire. Lomax had been talking to the men on Wagon 7 as he waited for them to arrive.
Miller had missed the driveway. He turned around and headed back.
Another Catlett truck was waiting to turn into the driveway and let Wagon 7 go first. The men on the second truck told The Citizen they were sure their fellow firemen never saw the train--much less tried to beat it--as early media reports suggested.
The firetruck headed up the private railroad crossing without stopping. It collided with the train, then "just disintegrated into the air," firefighter Tony Zopp said in 1989. He'd been riding in the second truck.
Raymond Shrock, who also watched the explosion, asked Lomax: "Are you aware of what just happened?"
"Didn't hit my truck, did it?" Lomax asked in disbelief.
Shrock's somber reply: "That's right."
The men assumed all were lost on Wagon 7 and turned their attention to the living and the fire around them.
When Smith got there, Lomax gave him the grisly mission of locating the fallen firemen.
"Find my boys," Lomax told him.
UNFORGETTABLE IMAGES
Alvin Miller, Catlett's chaplain and a longtime member, also raced to the scene that night.
Smith wouldn't let him near the tracks. The driver of Wagon 7 was one of Miller's six children, the oldest of his three sons.
Smith had located the bodies and knew the sight was something no father should see. It's an image
Alvin Miller recalled the way Smith looked out for him when he addressed the audience Monday. One of the company's oldest members, he doesn't run many calls, but he enjoys encouraging the younger ones.
He looked into the faces of more than 60 Catlett fire
On the opposite side of the room stood more than 60 uniformed emergency service workers, from Stafford to Arlington and places in between.
"I can't hardly believe how many people are here to remember our son and Matt Smith," Alvin Miller said. "I want to tell you how much I appreciate you being here, especially my fellow firefighters."
'NEVER GET COMPLACENT'
Safety procedures at the Catlett department--and in stations nationwide--have become more rigorous as a result of the 1989 accident, Chief Smith said.
Officials, including those with the National Transportation Safety Board, found Miller, the driver, at fault for failing to stop at the crossing. New procedures try to assure the same thing doesn't happen again.
As part of the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, which Smith has taught, students listen to 911 tapes from the night of the crash.
Instructors stress the need for seat belts, as well as stopping at private railroad crossings, listening for a train or sending a spotter to check the tracks when the line of sight is impaired, as it was at the Catlett crossing.
"It taught us to never get complacent, never let your guard down, always have a backup plan," Smith said.
The men didn't die in vain, said Jim Moore, president of the Catlett company.
"They died doing what they loved to do, and other people have learned from it," Moore said.
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
| THE SURVIVORS: There was lots of hugging at the Catlett Fire & Rescue Company Monday night, but the three men who survived the 1989 crash were embraced the most.
Frankie Herndon, 38; Ernest Colbert, 39; and Michael Kirk, 41, were in Wagon 7's jump-seat area, facing the open rear of the vehicle the night of the crash. At Monday's memorial, they were in the back of the crowd before the ceremony, and Chief Kalvyn Smith summoned them to the front. "We cherish these folks," All three live in the region, but Kirk is the only one who stayed in the small community. He's still asked regularly about the crash and says it's not easy to forget--not when you live in Catlett." FAMILIES OF THE FALLEN: Mark Miller, 24, left behind a wife, Robin, and a baby daughter, Jessika. Now 21, Jessika attended the memorial with her mother. Robin, who lives in Pennsylvania, had goose bumps as she greeted people she hadn't seen in years. "I'm glad we're honoring them," she said. So was Penny Smith, the mother of 22-year-old Matt Smith. His longtime girlfriend, Tina Arms, sat beside his mother, and both dabbed at tears . "It's still hard," said Smith, who used to call out for her only child all the time. "I have my memories." NEVER FORGET: Volunteers from Catlett Fire and Cedar Run Rescue merged in 2007 to form the Catlett Fire & Rescue Company. A year later, the group opened a new--and grand--station on State Route 28. The $4.5 million facility has almost 20,000 square feet. The county got a government loan to build the facility, and volunteers cover the cost of gear, apparatus and maintenance, said former chief Butch Flippo. Inside the main entrance to the station are plaques for Miller and Smith. There's a golden bell between them and the words: "Never Forget." Whenever someone thinks about the firefighters, they're encouraged to ring the bell. |
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Twenty years ago, Cathy Dyson was working for The Fauquier Citizen newspaper and covered the crash of Wagon 7 and its aftermath. Some of the references in today's story were taken from articles she wrote in 1989. |
