Green Line train drives over fire on tracks
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
A Green Line train drove over a small fire on the tracks Wednesday night on Beacon Street, according to a witness who snapped photographs of the incident.
The fire was on the tracks between Harvard Avenue and Winchester Street at about 7 p.m., said Bret Silverman, 45, of Boston. "You could see the orange flames were just coming right out," he said.
"I figured that's a no-brainer. The train isn't going to go with a fire on the tracks," he said. He started to take pictures because he thought it was an interesting scene.
Then a T worker inspected the fire and then waved the train forward, and the outbound train headed toward Cleveland Circle drove over the fire, he said.
Shortly afterwards, the fire department arrived and put out the flames, Silverman said.
Silverman said he's not an engineer and "it could be that's absolutely safe or standard, I have no idea." But he said he and other bystanders were amazed. "We all looked at each other and said, 'Did they just do that?'" he said.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the blaze was a "minor trash fire that was quickly extinguished."
He said MBTA managers would talk with the train crew and other Green Line personnel about the incident as part of "standard fact gathering procedures."
