The fire that damaged dozens of SEPTA buses at the transit authority's Midvale Depot in North Philly on Thursday morning had a lingering impact on the air quality of the surrounding neighborhood, and officials said people in the area should shelter in place.
The fire broke out shortly before 6:30 a.m. and was contained within two hours. Since early in morning, a mobile air monitoring van has been at the site taking minute-by-minute samples to assess the air quality and potential health threats, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Palak Raval-Nelson said at a briefing Thursday afternoon.
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Early tests had showed elevated levels of particulate matter, benzene, ethyl-benzene and carbon monoxide.
"We know the air is still not entirely safe," Raval-Nelson said. "That is why my recommendation as health commissioner is for residents to stay away from the area of the fire. Stay inside, keep your windows and doors shut and close the vents to your home."
Pollutant levels have lessened since early this morning.
The three-alarm fire damaged as many as 40 decommissioned SEPTA buses at the Midvale Depot on the 4300 block of Wissahickon Avenue in the Nicetown neighborhood, officials said. No bus routes were impacted by the fire, a SEPTA spokesperson said.
Among the damaged vehicles were 15 electric buses, also currently in use. SEPTA is involved with ongoing litigation with Proterra, the maker of those electric buses, over structural problems with the vehicles it provided the agency in 2018 and 2019.
SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said the buses that caught fire have been decommissioned for several years.
At Thursday afternoon's briefing Sauer described the Midvale facility as SEPTA's largest bus depot and said it is consistently staffed by about 600 people throughout the day.
No injuries were reported from the fire. The cause of the blaze is being investigated by the Philadelphia Fire Marshal's Office. While firefighters were extinguishing the flames, some streets in the surrounding area were closed and traffic backed up on Roosevelt Boulevard.
The fire was contained at 8:08 a.m. after a response that included more than 150 firefighters, medics, fire chiefs, support personnel and the hazmat task force. The first firefighters arrived shortly before 6:30 a.m. and reported multiple buses on fire. A second alarm was sounded at 6:42 a.m. and a third was called at 7:25 a.m. to request additional assistance.
SEPTA employees helped firefighters access the fire by removing unaffected buses from the lot.
The Midvale Depot is located is just off Roberts Avenue near Fernhill Park. CBS Philadelphia posted video of the fire that had been recorded from its helicopter.
Several SEPTA buses are on fire at a yard in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, images from Chopper 3 show.
This location is SEPTA's Midvale depot, off Roberts Avenue. A spokesperson says these are decommissioned buses.
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Marcella Baietto
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NOTE: This article was updated with new information after it was originally published.
