18 treated after smoke condition in subway in NYC's Washington Heights
Eighteen people were treated following a smoke condition on Tuesday along the 1 subway line in Washington Heights, officials said.
Fortunately, none had serious injuries.
The New York City Fire Department says it was called to 191st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue after 12:30 p.m. for reports of smoke in the station. Officials say a subway train hit debris on the tracks which came in contract with the third rail, prompting a small fire, and lots of smoke.
Video from the 1 train platform at 191st Street shows thick clouds of brown smoke. Subway riders could be heard coughing as they made their way to the street.
The 191st Street station has a famously long tunnel from the station to the street that was clouded with smoke.
About 60 FDNY and EMS personnel responded to the scene.
There was no service along the 1 line between 215th Street and 145th Street due to the smoke condition, but it has since been restored. Click here to get the latest on subway service. Crews moved the train that struck the debris out of the station and into a yard for inspection to see what went wrong.
The MTA says it consistently inspects the rails for repairs and debris, using its track geometry car. The rollers on the car can detect cracks in the rails and high-level cameras look for debris or anything out of the ordinary. If anything urgent is detected, it is reported to the track team for corrective action.
A source said the MTA is still trying to figure out where the debris came from, whether it fell from the train, itself, or it came from the ceiling above as the train entered and exited the station. The FDNY said earlier the incident didn't appear to be criminal in nature.
"I was sitting on the train like a regular, and then the smoke was coming out," commuter Felix Sosa said. "And the worst thing was on the door. The driver took so long to open the door. It was very scary for us."
"People were running away, like, scared. The door was blocked, and we tried to open the door. So finally the guy opened the door, so we're lucky. We're running away. We were scared," Sosa added.
