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Outbreaks of Fire, Smoke Shut Down Metro Stations
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Farbstein said each of the smoke and fire incidents will be investigated. She said Metro was also "looking into the possibility that one or more may be related."
No indication of any connection among the incidents was known last night. Farbstein called the situation a "bizarre series of incidents" that all gave the initial impression of being "very different."
Catoe said it was possible that the events attested to the aged state of equipment in the 30-year-old system.
The incidents began about 5:45 p.m. at Mount Vernon Square station, and the last of the closed stations reopened at 9:30 p.m. Farbstein gave the following account of the incidents: Smoke was reported near Mount Vernon Square as the result of an insulator problem. Green and Yellow line trains were single-tracked between Mount Vernon and Shaw-Howard University Station until normal service resumed at 8:02 p.m., Farbstein said.
At 5:52 p.m., fire broke out in an equipment room near tracks at the airport station, which serves the Blue and Yellow lines. The room, apparently near where the trains emerge from below ground, contained electrical components. The airport station reopened at 9:30.
At 6:30 p.m., fire was reported at Huntington Station, the Fairfax County terminus of the Yellow Line. The fire, on a track in a storage and staging area for trains, prompted the brief closing of the station. It soon reopened, with only the southbound entrance closed, and the entire station reopened shortly after 8 p.m.
At 7:08 p.m., a smoldering cable inside Farragut North Station forced it to close. It reopened about 8:50 p.m.
A brake problem on a train traveling between Foggy Bottom and Farragut West led to the 8:25 p.m. closing of Farragut West Station. The station reopened about 9 p.m.
Trains had been permitted to pass through the station but not to stop. The brake problem apparently led to reports of smoke at the Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn stations.
Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold, Mary Beth Sheridan, Lena H. Sun and Nikita Stewart contributed to this report.
