Electrical room fire at Oakland BART station prompts train evacuations, major delays, officials say

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A fire in the electrical room of an Oakland BART station caused major delays and an evacuation of passengers from trains on Saturday night, fire officials said.

BART initially said it was experiencing a major delay systemwide Saturday night because of an equipment problem on the track between 19th Street/Oakland and Fruitvale stations.

Stations were closed at 12th Street/Oakland City Center, 19th Street/Oakland, Lake Merritt and Fruitvale due to power loss, BART said about 5:30 p.m. in a posting on X.

Oakland Fire Department confirmed the cause of the delays was due to a fire that forced them to shut the power off.

"A fire was located and extinguished in an electrical room. No reports of any injuries and no one was transported. Train evacuations occurred and involved safely guiding approx 300 people off trains and platforms. The incident has been turned over to BART," OFD spokesperson Michael Hunt said in a statement.

The smoke billowing out onto Oakland streets was coming from the 12th Street BART station below.

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"It was pretty smoky in the tunnel. I don't know how bad the fire was. I didn't see the fire," said Rene Morfin, a BART passenger who lives in San Francisco. "Once they told us there was a fire, they said evacuate at the back of the car."

Morfin and his girlfriend, Breanna Miller, were among the hundreds of BART passengers evacuated. They were stuck on BART for 30 minutes until they were let out.

"It was bit scary just, because we didn't know what was going on. But after they evacuated us. We were fine," Miller said.

"We had an engine company that was here at the 12th Street BART station. They were here for a medical call. And they smelled smoke. So they did investigate, and they found smoke in one of the tunnels," said Battalion Chief Linda Buell with the Oakland Fire Department.

Buell said crews located the fire coming from an electrical room that burned through some wires. They immediately cut power, which impacted the BART stations and forced the evacuations.

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"The smoke in the tunnel by the BART ventilation system was cleared out, which is why we were able to do the safe evacuation to 19th street and 12th street," Buell said. "We were extremely lucky today to be able to evacuate with no injuries."

Charlie Getter was supposed to meet friends in Oakland for a poetry reading event. But they didn't make it to Oakland.

"They were texting me from the BART. Even coming down from Berkeley, it was stopped on both sides," Getter said.

Buell says the fire was contained just to the electrical room. How the fire started is still under investigation.

"Any time you have a fire, you burn through a wire, you burn through a cable. You have exposed wire and electrical. You can't put any power through it, or else your problem is going to continue," Buell said. "We have recommended that until they can get that repaired, is not to turn that power back on."

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BART officials did not give any indication as to when those repairs will be complete, which means there may be systemwide delays again come Sunday morning.

About 9:20 p.m., BART announced that it had additionally stopped service between MacArthur, Coliseum and West Oakland stations due to the power loss.

"We really don't have any idea when we will be resuming service at this point, so it's very important that riders be seeking alternative means of transportation throughout the evening," BART spokesperson Cheryl Stalter said.

BART said there was no Green Line service between Berryessa and Daly City, and no Red Line service between Richmond and Millbrae.

Trains were turning back at Ashby, Rockridge, West Oakland and Coliseum stations, BART said and a bus bridge operated by AC Transit was set up between West Oakland and MacArthur and between West Oakland, Fruitvale and Coliseum stations.

BART advised riders to consider alternate means of transportation. Travelers may use the BART Trip Planner at bart.gov/alternatives or the BART app to find transit alternatives based on their location by deselecting BART in "transit options."

Bay City News Controbuted to this report

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