I learned today that a colleague of mine was injured in Friday’s Metrolink crash. She’s a manager who divides her time between LA and Glendale — her Glendale office is right next to mine. She commutes from Ventura to LA on the train. I don’t know how badly she’s hurt, but I should be able to find out until tomorrow.

There were 25 people killed in the crash, and 135 injured, 40 of them critically. I have yet to hear of any casualties among local fans.

The fatalities included another employee at my agency who I’ve never met, Greg Lintner. A comment posted to his online death announcement revealed the shocking coincidence that he had survived a previous Metrolink disaster in 2005. Patti Hudson remembers what he did for her that day:

Greg helped me in the Glendale train crash. I was critically injured and couldn’t move. Without regard to his own safety he dug me out of the debris and stayed with me until the paramedics arrived. He was a real hero. I am so shocked and saddened by this.

Lintner was among the people interviewed by ABC News about the 2005 wreck.

The L.A. Times has an excellent report on the first responders to Friday’s train crash:

Barrios and his crew cut through the fence and raced for the wreckage. The captain was on his radio as they approached. The scene started to come into relief. Send five ambulances, he said at first. He got closer and saw the flames. Send 30 firetrucks, he added. Then he was there. The Metrolink engine seemed to be missing. In the head-on crash, a Union Pacific engine had shoved it violently inside the first passenger car, which was lying grotesquely on its side. Two dozen passengers had emerged from the wreckage; some, dazed, were walking in circles against a curtain of black smoke.

Barrios made his last request: Send every heavy search-and-rescue unit in the city.

Update 9/15/2008: I learned that the manager from our Glendale office suffered a broken nose, a facial cut and deep bruising to her lower body. They expect it will be a couple weeks before anyone can know how long she’ll be away from work. Both the Glendale and LA offices are collecting for get-well bouquets of flowers. It’s all made me feel unusually grateful to be able to drive home to Diana and Sierra at the end of a day.