Fire

Nowhere near as bad as the Red Line fire the other day, though. A cable behind a wall on the outbound Orange Line platform at State Street began to smoulder around 9:40 a.m.

I got off the Orange Line at State a few minutes later - after the train stopped briefly before pulling into the station. There was light smoke (not even as bad as the smog by the ticket counters at Back Bay on a normal day) and crews from one ladder truck and one engine studying and spraying the wall (not with water, with CO2?) near the exit to the Blue Line. The station wasn't closed; T police were there to keep people away from the wall, not evacuate the station.

Smoke billowing out of the Filene's Basement entrance to Downtown Crossing tonight. By Steve Laniel.

Friday morning commute could be a mess, at least on the Red Line, so leave some extra time and check mbta.com.

A three-alarm electrical fire on the Red Line tracks at Downtown Crossing sent acrid smoke billowing through subway tunnels around 10 p.m., shutting down three of the MBTA's four subway lines downtown and sending at least 20 people to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Smoke reached at least as far as Boylston on the Green Line and South Station on the Red Line - where Silver Line service was disrupted as well. Several electrical cables on the Alewife-bound side of the Red Line platform at Downtown Crossing began burning around 10 p.m.

Kevin Gilnack tweeted shortly after 10 p.m.:

Multiple tweets of a major fire at 483 Beacon St. in the Back Bay.

Photo copyright Nancy & Ronan. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

>Fenway fire: Copyright Jeff Tamagini. More photos.

A large reeds-fed fire is raging in the Victory Gardens section of the Fens. Nothing of real value (real estate-wise) is in danger, as the area is limited by the Muddy River and the main path. The TV stations have started arriving.

Photos here, here and here.

William Fleurant reports embers reached I-93 in the Lechmere area.