Track Fire Leads to Evacuation of Silver Spring Metro Station

Update

Service is back to normal at the Silver Spring Metro station, Metro announced via Twitter at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Original post

A fire on the tracks that sent billowing smoke over downtown Silver Spring forced the evacuation of the Silver Spring Metro station at the peak of Tuesday evening’s rush hour.

No one was injured as firefighters brought the fire under a Red Line train under control quickly, said Assistant Chief Scott Graham, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

NBC4 video from the scene showed thick white smoke after the fire was extinguished.

The fire was in electrical insulation and connectors on the tracks, Graham said.

Red Line service was suspended between the Takoma and Forest Glen stations, Metro said in a news release on its website. Metro was establishing shuttle bus service between those stations, with a stop at the Silver Spring station.

“Customers are advised that it will take time to bring enough buses to the area to support current ridership,” the release said.

There were no passengers aboard the train when it arrived in Silver Spring at 5:03 p.m., said Morgan Dye, a Metro spokeswoman. The train had offloaded at Takoma at 4:57 p.m., Dye said.

Fire was seen once the train arrived at the Silver Spring station and the fire department was called, she said.

Reports of explosions had not been confirmed, Graham said, adding that people might have heard the popping of the electrical insulators burning.

“We’ll clear it up and move on,” Graham told NBC4.