NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Multiple fires near Amtrak tracks in the Bronx on Tuesday caused the transit company to cancel all trains between New York Penn Station and New Haven for the rest of the day.
The FDNY responded to two separate substation fires that broke out about a quarter mile away from one another in Morris Park.
Firefighters first responded to a transformer fire that broke out at 2:16 p.m. in the back of 1601 Bronxdale Ave., a 60,000 square foot building that FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods said “is used for the storage of auto parts, hydraulic equipment, pallets [and] vehicles.”
Workers at the building, the Parts Authority Auto Parts warehouse, said they heard what sounded like a bomb when a transformer exploded, and then the fire spread. Three cars went up in flames as a result of the initial blaze and the building was evacuated.
Then, just after 2:30 p.m., another fire was reported at an Amtrak substation which caused the transit company to shut down their powerlines.
“What took us quite a while to extinguish that fire, we had to have all train traffic stopped, we had to have the overhead catenary wires power removed from them, we needed power also removed from the transformer," Woods said. “Then you have residual electricity that has to be grounded as well."
There was a large-scale response with 198 firefighters on the scene as the department also continues to battle a high quantity of brush fires in the area amid Northeast drought conditions.
“We’re not sure if this was—if brush fires was the cause," Woods said. "But brush fires, right now it’s extremely dry, as you know, we haven’t had rain for quite a while. And there’s been more brush fires in the past eleven days then we’ve had in any previous month in two years.”
In a statement to 1010 WINS, an Amtrak spokesperson said that the track suspension is due to a brush fire in the area.
"There is currently a brush fire in the area that has caused all services between New York Penn Station (NYP) and New Haven (NHV) to be suspended for the remainder of the day," senior public relations manager Jason Abrams said.
There were no injuries reported in any of the fires.
An investigation will determine what caused the fires and if they were related.