CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Passengers were forced to scramble off of an MBTA bus in Cambridge Tuesday afternoon after flames began shooting from the roof due to a downed trolley line.
An overhead wire made contact with the top of a Route 72 bus in the area of 161 Huron Ave. around 3 p.m., prompting the driver to immediately open all doors to get the passengers out safely, according to an MBTA spokesperson.
Witness James Hutchinson recalled the bus fire sounding like fireworks.
“It was interesting to hear,” he said. “There was a lot of loud, that popping. These blue puffs of whatever it was at the end of this wire was like, ‘boom, boom, boom,’ almost like fireworks.”
Firefighters closed part of Huron Avenue in both directions as they battled the flames.
There were no reported injuries.
“The people came off the bus, the bus driver came off the bus. Everybody’s OK,” witness Denora Natareno said. “The police came very fast.”
MBTA officials, who are investigating the root cause of this incident, say the trolley lines are regularly inspected.
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