'People really lost it,' Passengers describe desperate rush to get off burning Orange Line train

SOMERVILLE - Passengers on the MBTA Orange Line train that caught fire on a bridge over the Mystic River Thursday morning said it was a frantic scramble to get out safely. 

About 200 passengers were able to escape the train, and one jumped into the water. The fire was apparently sparked when a loose piece of metal from the bottom of the train hit the third rail. 

According the T, flames and smoke started pouring out of the first car of the train around 6:45 a.m. while it was on the bridge heading towards Assembly station in Somerville.

"We heard an explosion, or just a really loud boom, and we saw smoke coming out from the car directly in front of ours. And understandably, people got really frightened, started screaming," passenger Jennifer Donovan told WBZ-TV. "There was no announcement or anything over the speakers, so we were all unsure of what was going on."

"Some Good Samaritans actually tried to pry the doors open to get us all out of the car, but unfortunately they wouldn't unlock. Luckily, we were all able to get to an emergency exit after some time," Donovan said. 

Jennifer Thomson, who was in the front car and is a frequent rider of the Orange Line, said unlike most days, the train approached the bridge over the river faster than usual. 

"Normally, they have a speed advisory there, so they crawl over that bridge at a really slow pace. Today, [the conductor] didn't slow down," Thomson told WBZ. "And I thought that was weird in the moment, and then there was an explosion."

"People immediately jumped, freaked out. There was a strong smell of burning," Thomson said. "Then the dust kind of settled for a half a second. Then, there was a series of other explosions. And that's when people really lost it. At this point I'm thinking, 'This car is going to go up in a ball of flames.' Like, I thought we were going to be trapped in there and die. It was pretty harrowing."

Thomson said that after attempts to open the emergency door failed, a man on the train was able to kick out one of the windows.

"People just start pouring out through the window. I'm ready to follow him, and I get up on the seat and I'm holding on looking down, and it was a big drop. It was not an easy distance."

Caitlin Kenney was one of the passengers who jumped out of the window.

"I sat on the ledge and looked down, and then saw two men and thought to myself, 'Thank goodness.' They're right there and they were bigger and had big muscles. And they were like 'We got you. Just come down,'" Kenney said. "I think it's the most afraid I have ever been in my life. I didn't know the circumstances and everyone was panicked around me, it was pretty scary."

Thomson said she ended up staying in the train car, and the conductor was later able to get the emergency door open. While people were told to start moving towards the back of the train, Thomson said this created a logjam.

"It was extremely bottlenecked. I don't recall there being any announcements about what to do. We were just being herded by personnel from one car to the next."

At that point, a woman got out of the train and jumped into the water.

"Some woman's going, 'No, no, don't do that. Don't jump.' And we look into the water, and some woman had actually jumped off the bridge into the river and was swimming away. Luckily, they weren't drowning, but still, we were like, 'Oh my God, what is even happening?'"

Eventually, the back of the train was opened by firefighters, who helped passengers get out safely.

"They directed us to walk back to Wellington [Station] over the tracks. So we had to follow the tracks all the way back to Wellington. And by the time we got there, it was an outrageous amount of people crammed onto the platform, and no directions whatsoever."

Thomson told WBZ that while she uses the MBTA often, she has experienced many issues as a rider, with Thursday's experience being easily the worst.

"I've had some pretty harrowing experiences on the T. But this, I can honestly tell you that today, I thought my life was in danger," she said. "There has always been problems. It's a joke at this point. You go on Facebook, you complain about the MBTA. It's what we do for fun."

The train was later towed to Wellington Station.

Shuttle buses replaced service between Oak Grove and Community College for several hours before regular Orange Line service resumed, but with delays.