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Local Crime & Public Safety

3 Metro stations evacuated because of smoke beneath railcar at Eastern Market

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Updated February 15, 2024 at 3:42 p.m. EST|Published February 15, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. EST
D.C. firefighters respond to reports of smoke at the Eastern Market Metro station on Feb. 15. (D.C. fire department)
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Reports of smoke forced the closures and evacuations of three Metro stations Thursday afternoon, according to a spokeswoman for the transit agency.

D.C. fire officials said they evaluated eight people and took one to a hospital. By midafternoon, a Metro spokeswoman said the stations had reopened but that trains were single-tracking.

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Metro said on the platform X that the Eastern Market, Capitol South and Potomac Avenue stations closed about 1 p.m. because of smoke. Service was suspended on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines between the Federal Center SW and Stadium-Armory stations. Shuttle buses had been requested.

People evacuated the Eastern Market Metro station on Feb. 15 in Washington, D.C., after an insulator caught fire under a rail car. (Video: @agisacutie via Twitter)

Fire officials said the source of the smoke was an insulator that caught fire under a rail car in the Eastern Market station in the 700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Metro said in a statement issued later that a preliminary investigation revealed arcing from a third-rail “shoe” that links power to rail cars.