A fire on an Orange Line train Thursday morning filled the system with smoke and forced a train operator to put out the flames with an extinguisher.
Later in the day, 10 people, including four children, were trapped in one of Metro’s deepest elevators at the Woodley Park-Zoo station for more than an hour and half.
And a Metrobus driver was arrested after a crash, charged with driving without a license.
The three incidents, plus a fire alarm at the Van Ness-UDC station during the afternoon rush hour, marked an unusually bad day for the transit agency. They were just the latest problems to unsettle riders already rattled by the June 22 train crash that killed nine and injured more than 70.
“This is a dangerous system,” rider Len Bernardo told The Examiner after fleeing a train filled with smoke.
The fire broke out about 8:20 a.m. on an inbound train near the McPherson Square station, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. A “collector shoe” underneath the train caught fire, he said. The shoe connects the train to the electrified third rail to give the train power.
The operator had to exit the train in the tunnel and use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, Taubenkibel said. The train was brought into the station, where passengers were evacuated, and the train was taken out of service, he said.
Metro turned on ventilation fans. But he said smoke was reported as far as L’Enfant Plaza, four stops away.
Bernardo was on one of the subsequent trains, headed in from Vienna. He said his eyes started to bother him, then he realized his train car was filling with smoke.
Bernardo was on one of the subsequent trains, headed in from Vienna. He said his eyes started to bother him, then he realized his train car was filling with smoke.
“It was coming right into the compartment,” he said. “People wanted to get off.”
At the next stop, Metro Center, he said everyone bolted from the train. Then he saw a blanket of smoke coming through the tunnel from the direction of McPherson Square.
Another train pulled into the station, also full of smoke.
But neither the operator of his train nor the station manager made any announcements about what was happening or what riders should do. “They didn’t say a word,” he said. “This is really negligent.”
He said he couldn’t find any information about the fire on Metro’s Website. The most recent service disruption report on the site Thursday dated from July 22.
Taubenkibel declined to comment on how the incident was communicated to passengers. He said officials are still trying to determine what caused the metal shoe to catch fire. No one was reported injured.
Then around 3:45 p.m., the 10 people stuck in the Woodley Park elevator were rescued after an hour and 31 minutes when officials were able to lower the elevator back into the station, Taubenkibel said. One woman was treated for hyperventilation at the scene, he said.
