A small track fire erupted in or near the Embarcadero Underground Station Thursday, forcing the temporary closure of the BART and Muni subway systems main San Francisco hub and turning the massive commute system into chaos.
A plume of black smoke could clearly been seen rising from a street vent in the area of Market Street between Front and Bush streets.
"We got a call at about 9:35 a.m. of a fire in the Embarcadero station," said SF Fire Capt. Pete Howes. "We got on the scene minutes later to find heavy smoke conditions. The station was immediately evacuated...We went down and began to fight a fire.... Water is on the fire and it has been surpressed. There have been no injuries to either firefighters or citizens."
All BART trains to and from San Francisco were being halted and trains were being unloaded at the East Oakland Station. Muni trains also had ground to halt and Market Street was closed in the Embarcadero area.
It was not know when operations would return to normal
Copyright 2006 by . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
