Disaster_Accident

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Officials look over two light-rail trains involved in a crash in San Francisco on Saturday. Forty-seven people were injured in the crash. The city's transit workers union blamed a "medical condition" for the driver's loss of consciousness.

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The government's required switch from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs come with potential hazards: Improper disposal of the mercury-powered bulbs may pollute landfills and groundwater. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Gun safety and basic marksmanship is taught at the National Rifle Association in Fairfax on Sept. 20, 2005. (The Washington Times)

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Emergency personnel walk along the tracks at the scene where two Metro red line trains collided. (Rod Lamkey Jr. / The Washington Times)

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Association Press Coal River Mountain (left) forms the backdrop for a mountaintop coal-mining site at Kayford Mountain, W.Va.

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** FILE ** Brazilian sailors recover debris from the missing Air France Airbus jet in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009 in this photo released by the Brazilian air force. (AP Photo)

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The Field of Honor near Fort Bragg's Airborne and Special Operations Museum invites people to buy and dedicate flags to service members, current and fallen. (Kelly Twedell/Special to The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** Fans of the Washington Capitals show their allegiance as their team takes on the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Verizon Center in 2009. (The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** Traffic stacks up on the eastbound Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles in May 2009. (AP Photo)

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A display of flags in Shanksville, Pa., stand in memory of the 40 passengers and crew members of United Flight 93 who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. A permanent memorial is planned by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack. (Associated Press/File)

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AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES Contractors of the U.S. security firm Blackwater secure the site of a roadside attack near the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad in 2005. The firm, whose guards were accused of fatally shooting 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, left Baghdad on Thursday.

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** FILE ** D.C. firefighters (from top) Lt. Brian Alston, Ryan Doyle, Greg Smith and Shawn Welch attempt to drain the entrance area of a flooded residence in the Adams Morgan area in this 2009 file photo.

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A furry friend helps Auxiliary Police Cpl. James Murphy demonstrate harness use in a child-safety seat.

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** FILE ** Richard C. Holbrooke (left), the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in February 2009 as tensions over civilian casualties strain relations between the two countries. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Flames erupt after Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009.

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This image provided by NASA shows an artist concept of an Iridium satellite in earth orbit. Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of its kind in orbit over Siberia on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station. The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was launched in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1993 and believed to be nonfunctioning.

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** FILE ** In this Jan. 29, 2009, file photo, an Early County, Ga. Sheriff's car sits parked in front of the the Peanut Corporation of America processing plant in Blakely, Ga., The Senate is scheduled to hold the first congressional hearing on the national salmonella outbreak Thursday as lawmakers are vowing to press for stronger food safety laws and more money for inspections. The Georgia peanut-processing plant that produces just 1 percent of U.S. peanut products is being blamed for the salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 550 people, eight of whom have died.

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Associated Press Rock artists (clockwise from the left) Ritchie Valens, J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson and Buddy Holly died in a plane crash 50 years ago.

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Memorial Bridge and Roosevelt Bridge, which link Virginia and the District, are among those that will be closed on Inauguration Day. Authorities are asking people to use public transportation, as drivers in the city will face restrictions, including street closures. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)