On my way to school Wends. afternoon, there was a fire truck out in front of the 7ave station (P-Slope). As I

headed down I overheard an important looking fireman talking to another and I coulda' sworn he said;

"Two fires on the same line? that's strange.." The f-train was running fine so I didn't think of it 'till I read this story.

I hope it ain't some kinda' serial arsonist.

Track fires are caused by many different things. The fuel is usually garbage, debris or the oil that comes down from the engines.

But the ignition is sometimes a match, a cigarette, or more commonly but less known, the sparks of the third rail.

A trains wheels and tracks need to be changed all of the time because the metal always shaves off of it from you and turns into a fine dust that coats everything. That brownish grime you see is basically corroded metal dust. Give it the right conditions and right locations, and it can ignite.

Also, while modern wiring is covered in mostly flame resistant insulation, older wires care covered in a cloth/oil mixture. Not the best solution, but back in the day that was the only thing that existed before plastics. Years pass, the cloth on the wires gets frayed a spark is ignited and wha-la. Fire.

Many MTA workers walk around with small fire extinguishers to put out small fires. And dozens of the small fires happen each day. It's the big ones that disrupt service everyone here's about.

Blame it on HOBOS!

i was getting my haircut at a boutique on 13th yesterday when i man in a suit rushed in, apologizing for how late he was for his appointment. he said he'd been on a train that had been stopped - due to a fire - in the tunnel down by chambers, and that he and his fellow passengers were asked to exit the train and walk thru the tunnel to get out.

they say that the trash people throw onto the tracks is a major cause of fires...

I got to the 14th St. station to take the 2/3 uptown, only to see that both downtown trains were being held at the station with no one on them, then they proceeded to go uptown to "park" I assume. It took a while for a 2 to come, but when it did, it stopped before entering the station for about 5 minutes, then stayed in the station another 5 minutes. It went local until 42nd, then resumed express service after that. I was surprised that on a fancy new 2 car, the conductor's voice was muddled and staticy.

I wonder if they solved the 1st Fire? Also, if it was garbage burning, did the MTA cut back on the budget for clean-up (or need to increase it)?

Well that explains why it took so long to get a train yesterday. I had just missed one and the next train took ages to arrive.

what exactly is burning in all these incidents?

I got to the Houston St. Station only to be turned around by a mob of perturbed straphangers. "Don't even bother," one man said shaking his head. I walked to West 4th and hopped on the B. It's faster, anyway.