hanuta

Wed, 02 May 2007 13:07:00 -0500

I saw the fire and ran towards the footbridge near the Longfellow bridge. I took some shots of the action, through all the smoke. It was an intense experience. Please let me know where I can send these. Some are posted here: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=722131 thanks, hannah

Paul

Tue, 01 May 2007 23:39:50 -0500

I was one of the evacuees on the outbound red line train entering Charles/MGH on May 1st. It's difficult to recall the actual time that the train stopped (just short of entering the station) due to a "small" fire (that required several fire trucks and emergency vehicles), but we remained on the train for about 20-30 minutes before we were escorted off it and on to the T platform and out of the station. Up to that point, the situation, including T updates, was as informative and continuous as they could have been, but that ended once we left the Charles Station. Other than being told that there would be buses bringing us to the remaining Red Line stops towards Alewife, we were never updated afterwards with information on when the trains would begin again or when the buses would be arriving. We saw three completely full “Red Line Shuttle” buses pass us. The second bus driver actually decided to go back to Park St (without giving any reason to passengers) at which time, half of the bus passengers exited the bus. I had asked the only MBTA employee (guarding the entrance to the station) if he knew any updates of which he did not. I later approached two Boston police officers voicing my and other passengers' frustrations with the packed buses and stating that there were absolutely no MBTA employees (or any of the several police officers and other emergency staff that seemed to be walking around) out there updating us on the shuttle bus status. One officer shook his head in disgust about the situation and walked away as if he were planning to find out updates. I later saw the two officers walking around the station together and never heard an update form either of them. Also at that time, the "guarding" MBTA employee suggested a taxi, which I had informed him were already filled by the time they reached the T station. He suggested I walk up Cambridge street to grab an open one, which would only mean (assuming I found an empty taxi) paying more money by sitting in traffic, in the cab. I eventually asked a fireman if it was safe to walk across the Longfellow Bridge (we were told earlier that they were not allowing vehicle or pedestrian traffic), which he replied 'yes'. This was even more irksome because an emergency worker or a MBTA employee could have at least told us it was safe to walk across the bridge, thus saving us time and aggravation. Once I reached Kendall, the MBTA employee was very orderly and constantly announcing that the INBOUND side was going to Alewife. Somehow, communication between the MBTA, its passengers and emergency workers was lost after we were evacuated from the Red Line.

cory

Tue, 01 May 2007 22:56:58 -0500

I was in the front car on the bridge when the fire started. We didn't really know any more than we can see. The fire department finally evacuated us after about 80 minutes. A couple not-so-great pics on Flickr here. A video taken on my camera walking down the tracks to the Charles/MGH station is here on YouTube.

Bostonist: Breaking: Fire Shuts Down Longfellow Bridge, Storrow Drive, Red Line

hanuta

Paul

cory