Saturday, April 4, 2015

TWO-ALARM ELECTRICAL FIRE ON THE COMMUTER RAIL AND AMTRAK TRACKS NEAR FOREST HILLS STATION SATURDAY MORNING IN MASSACHUSETTS




APRIL 4, 2015

MBTA employees are directing passengers at Forest Hills and Needham stations to shuttle buses that have temporarily replaced trains after the fire stopped the rails’ signals from working, according to Leslie Aun, spokeswoman for Keolis, the company that operates the commuter rail system. She said passengers on the Franklin and Providence lines are being diverted onto the Fairmont line, and 10- to 20-minute delays are to be expected. 

She recommended that “anyone seeking to travel between Forest Hill and [the] Back Bay plan to take the Orange Line or consider another form of transportation.” 

According to Boston fire spokesman Steve MacDonald, firefighters arrived at the scene of the electrical vault fire about 150 yards away from the Forest Hills station at 6:44 a.m. 

Working with commuter rail staff to shut down the power to the vault. Cannot extinguish until power off.

— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) April 4, 2015
Standing by with dry chemical extinguishers to use once that happens.
— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) April 4, 2015
FIRE PHOTO: BOSTON 2nd Alarm #MBTA #Amtrak at Forest Hills station MT @bostonnewsnow #PFFM_ALERT pic.twitter.com/cgCN7fFyY1
— Fire Fighters of MA (@THE_PFFM) April 4, 2015

Firefighters battled the blaze with air bottles and dry chemical extinguishers as they waited for power to the vault to be turned off so water could be used to knock it down, MacDonald said. 

It took roughly an hour and a half to cut power off to the electrical unit while the blaze continued, burning the insulation off wiring within the vault, he said. This created a “toxic environment” for the firefighters, said MacDonald, who explained that as a result of the toxic gases being let off, the department’s fire chief rang a second alarm for more manpower. 

MacDonald said no injuries related to the fire were reported, and the fire was extinguished with water by 8:15 a.m. 

The Orange Line near Forest Hills station runs alongside the commuter rail and Amtrak tracks affected by the fire, which MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said was delayed for six minutes during the fire.

Aun said that officials suspect a lightning strike during an early morning storm may have caused the fire, but the cause is still under investigation.