SEPTA Bus Fire: 40 buses damaged by fire in ‘bus graveyard’
A fire broke at a Philadelphia storage yard on Thursday, damaging 40 SEPTA buses.
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Officials said this fire happened in the Tioga-Nicetown section of the city, next to the Roberts Yard SEPTA Railroad Facility and the Midvale Bus Depot.
Employees reported the fire around 6:15 a.m. It was upgraded to a 3-alarm blaze around 7:30 a.m. Thick, black smoke could be seen billowing in the air at the height of the fire.
The fire sent a large plume of smoke into the sky, and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said pollutants have been detected in the air.
A total of 100 buses were in the yard, including gas-powered and electric buses. They were slated to be sold for a “nominal amount” or scrapped, SEPTA Interim General Manager Scott Sauer said.
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Midvale Depot is SEPTA’s largest facility, with nearly 600 employees working on any given day, this establishment is used for both maintenance and storage.
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch shared with NBC10 that the facility is what they refer to as “the bus graveyard,” where all out-of-service buses are stored. This fire was not impacting any buses that are in service.
The fire was placed under control at 8 a..m. Thursday morning, officials shared. 150 firefighters were on scene to fight the flames.
No injuries were reported.
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Information from this article was sourced from 6abc Action News Philadelphia
