I hadn’t heard anything about this. Someone emailed me, asking, “Do you think this news is weird, or is it just me?”
No, I don’t think it’s just you. It sounds to me like someone may have been probing D.C.’s local emergency response capabilities:
Five separate outbreaks of fire or smoke on the Metrorail system shut down several stations and halted train service in spots last night, in a series of disruptions that appeared to be without precedent in the system’s 30-year history.
Each of the incidents, which occurred within a two-hour period, appeared to stem from a different cause, Metro officials said. But the overall effect, which sent hundreds of confused passengers scrambling, seemed unnerving and bewildering.
Once is happenstance. Twice, coincidence. The thid time, it’s enemy action.
– Auric Goldfinger