(The following story by Dan Sokil appeared on The Reporter website on June 15, 2010.)
NORTH WALES - Commuters coming into North Wales, Lansdale and all points northwards were delayed Monday afternoon, by an apparent electrical fire on a SEPTA car as it pulled into the North Wales train station.
What we had was a fire from underneath the train, and it was coming out the window and coming up the side. Were not sure how it started, said Bill Goltz, Chief of the North Penn Fire Company.
The fire was first seen around 6:20 p.m., beneath what appeared to be an older model South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority car pulling into the North Wales station as it headed toward Pennbrook Parkway and Lansdale.
We really dont know, me and the conductors really dont know why it caught on fire, just that it stopped and the lights went out, said passenger Gina Bove.
She estimated that only a handful of other passengers were on board, and said she was in the third car of the four car train when the fire started beneath the fourth car.
I was in the middle and the fire was on the car at the far end. It was a quiet train, which was really uncharacteristic, there were probably only like two other people in my car, she said.
After it pulled into the North Wales station and was evacuated, SEPTA conductors on board lowered the pantographs, the metal structures above each car that connect it to electrical lines above the tracks, on each car.
The train sat next to the platform for approximately an hour, as firefighters from the North Penn and Upper Gwynedd companies worked to put out all possible fires, from both above and below the car.
What were doing in the wall of the train is actually opening it up and pouring water down to flood it out, Goltz said.
As he spoke, North Penn and Upper Gwynedd firefighters, cut the side of the car with a spinning saw, peered inside, and crawled around and beneath the car as water poured through.
The train was evacuated, upon our arrival they had everybody off, and they had the pantographs down, which secured the power, he said.
Lansdale resident Michael Kahrs said he was waiting near the platform for a friend when he saw the train pull into the station on fire, with flames shooting from a window above the car number 222 on its side.
It just smelled terrible, you could tell it was wires burning and definitely an electrical fire. We were wondering, how long do these trains run, but I guess from time to time this stuff happens and theyll just jack up the price and buy a new one, he said.
Thats SEPTAs decision to make, but Goltz said the three remaining cars would tow the damaged car to the Lansdale station, where it would be separated from the train and investigated more thoroughly.
By 7:20 p.m., exactly that had happened, but not before two other trains had come through the station heading northbound on the southbound track, and platform announcement boards and recordings were already warning of significant delays.
