The State - News from Jan. 16, 1985

Bay Area Rapid Transit trains and tunnels that were struck by a blaze six years ago still are hazardous, and officials have ignored repeated pleas of fierfighters to improve safety in its system, authorities said. George Gray, Oakland’s deputy fire chief, said BART, which serves 210,000 riders a day, still has several flaws in its safety system. The tunnels are inproperly ventilated, there is a lack of water sprinklers in the stations and there is a shortage of safety equipment, said Gray, who also the chairman of a BART safety committee representing 14 Bay Area fire departments. BART General Manager C. Keith Bernard disagrees, saying, “We don’t feel anyone is at risk. There has always been alot of bad feeling between the Oakland Fire Department and the BART staff since the 1979 fire” in which a firefighter was killed and more than 40 people were injured when a blaze broke out in a six-car BART train in the transbay tube.