NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Limited service was being restored to a stretch of the Long Island Rail Road on Thursday morning after a raging fire at a waste facility overnight led to service suspensions.
The six-alarm fire erupted at the Jamaica Ash and Rubbish Removal in Westbury shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday evening.
More than 200 firefighters responded and were trying to get the fire under control into the early morning on Thursday.
No injuries were reported, but the fire disrupted LIRR service as the agency assessed damage.
LIRR President Phil Eng says they've assessed the damage, and crews are in the process of cleaning the tracks.
“The track has a tremendous amount of debris," he said. "The north track is sitting under water as there’s thousands of gallons of water continuing to be pumped into the smoldering ask. We don’t see significant damage to the track."
Service was suspended east of Mineola on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches due to damage caused by the “massive overnight fire adjacent to our tracks in Westbury,” the LIRR said.
Around 8:45 a.m., the LIRR said service had been restored to the branches but that customers should expect delays in both directions because trains were only operating on one of two tracks through the area.
LIRR tickets were being cross-honored on the N22/24 bus between Mineola and Hicksville. Riders had been advised to use alternate branches, including the Babylon, Hempstead or Montauk branches.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.
“I think we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that we might not find out the actual cause because it would have been burned,” she said. “I hope we find out, obviously the investigators and fire marshals will do their best, as they always do, to find out.”
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