COMMUTER PANIC
By Clemente Lisi
August 11, 2004 -- Dozens of alarmed PATH passengers went into a panic on a train yesterday after a track fire sent thick smoke into the air — forcing riders to kick out windows in order to escape what they thought was a terrorist attack.
The chaos began when a small pile of garbage caught fire at around 2 p.m. in the station at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue, just as a train packed with riders approached the platform.
The trash continued to smolder as the New Jersey-bound train pulled into the underground station, a witnesses told The Post.
The motorman spotted the flames and hit the brake.
The seven-car train — with three cars still in the tunnel behind it — idled as the conductor got out of his cabin and tried to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Anxious riders had no idea what was happening outside. Then the lights on the train went out and there were no announcements to guide them.
The stench of fire grew stronger and thick black clouds filled the station.
"People saw smoke and they thought the worst," said Edward O'Connell, 28, who was standing on the platform and who took these dramatic photos.
As smoke started to fill the train, riders grew increasingly terrified. When the doors remained closed for four minutes after the train had stopped, the passengers took matters into their own hands.
"People looked really scared," O'Connell said. "You could see the fear in their faces."
Desperate riders knocked out three windows in a car by the middle of the train. Scores of commuters poured out onto the platform, dashing for the exits.
"They were climbing out," O'Connell said. "I never saw anything like it."
As agitated passengers fled from the station, firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire.
The Port Authority, which operates the PATH system between New Jersey and Manhattan, said the train crew was correct not to open the doors and did nothing wrong.
"Part of the train was not in the station and it would have been unsafe to open the doors at that time," said PA spokesman Steve Coleman. "Procedure was followed."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26670.htm
To: Fish Story TMers
3-state fish kill puzzles scientists
One million croaker dead, littering beaches in Va., Del., and Md.
BY LAWRENCE LATANE III
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 11, 2004
A fish kill that has left Virginia, Maryland and Delaware beaches littered with Atlantic croaker continues to puzzle scientists who are trying to determine its cause.
"We don't know what is going on," said Wolfgang Vogelbein, a scientist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who is examining some of the dead fish for infection or disease. He said his lab is expected to finish its pathology work by the end of the week.
"These fish look healthy overall," Vogelbein said. "The only thing I've noticed is they're hemorrhaging extensively from the gills. That's unusual - I've never seen that before."
Estimates from the Maryland and Delaware portion of the Eastern Shore placed the number of dead fish at 1 million over the July 31 weekend, said Charles Poukish, an environmental program manager with the Maryland Department of the Environment. He said a raft of dead croaker 8 miles long by a quarter-mile wide were found offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
No estimates were made on the uninhabited barrier islands that stretch down Virginia's Eastern Shore coast, but VIMS scientist Mark Luckenbach said the shores near Wachapreague Inlet "were absolutely littered" with the fish the same weekend.
Small numbers of croaker washed ashore at Virginia Beach on Saturday morning, according to Rob O'Reilly, a fisheries manager at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
Another kill was discovered Monday and yesterday at Metomkin and Wachapreague inlets on the Eastern Shore, where Luckenbach said he saw hundreds of dead fish on beaches and floating beyond the surf.
Luckenbach said all of the fish have been croaker 4 years old and older. The species is plentiful on the coast and inshore waters.
Water samples collected where dead fish have been found show no signs of toxic algae or low dissolved oxygen that could kill fish.
"It's just kind of puzzling," said Vogelbein.
It is possible that cold water from deep ocean currents came ashore and killed the fish, he said, "but I don't know if that accounts for this bleeding I see consistently from the gills."
But, Jack Travelstead, chief of fisheries management at VMRC, said, "The day before each of the three kills I'm familiar with there were some pretty sudden declines in water temperature."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031777226688&path=%21news&s=1045855934842