Here’s How Local News Covered the Orange Line Fire

An Orange Line fire? Yes, you read that right. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for the embattled MBTA, they did.

At 6:53 on Thursday morning, the MBTA tweeted: "Orange Line: Delays of up to 15 minutes due to a train with a mechanical problem near Assembly. Trains may be asked to stand by at stations." That "mechanical problem" was, in actuality, a train car on fire. Footage, which you'll see below, showed smoke billowing from the Orange Line train as it sat on the tracks. And to make things more interesting? The stretch of track it sat on was on a bridge over the Mystic River outside of Assembly station. It's like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer film, except it's real life.

OK, so you're on the T on a Thursday morning in July. It's hot. You just want to get to your job so you can relax for a bit in the air conditioning before starting your work for the day. You're rolling along, just a few stops from North Station. Then the train stops. No big deal, happens all the time. But it's stopped on a bridge. That's concerning. And there's what looks like smoke coming from one of the train cars. That's extremely concerning.

So what do you do?

You get the hell off of that train, that's what you do. Riders opened emergency exits, climbing and jumping to safety. One rider actually "jumped ship" and ended up in the Mystic River. They needed a little assistance getting out, as you'll see below. A wild ride on the T this morning, to be certain. And all of the local news outlets covered it extensively, as you'd expect them to. I've rounded up the best coverage I could find, so scroll away.