Christopher Barnard Sr., assistant chief of operations for Joint Base Lewis-McChord fire and emergency services, arrived at work near DuPont at 7:30 a.m. Monday when the shift was changing.
Nothing serious had happened overnight, so Barnard was about to send out a message to his crew, essentially telling them to have a good day.
Then at 7:38 a.m. an emergency call came in, requesting engine after engine after engine to respond, punctuated finally by “This is not a drill.” And that sent Barnard off and running, racing to the scene of an Amtrak train that had derailed on an Interstate 5 overpass, south of DuPont at Mounts Road.
Officials who coordinated Monday’s emergency response say it was largely pulled off successfully, although they say they will be tweaking some of their response plans.