Fire that damaged multiple decommissioned SEPTA buses at Philly storage yard now under control

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A fast-moving fire erupted early Thursday at a transit bus lot in Philadelphia filled with dozens of decommissioned vehicles, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky but causing no injuries. The fire did not impact the morning commute.

It was placed under control later that day.

City health officials said Friday people in the area could go back to their normal routines, after saying Thursday that nearby residents should stay inside and avoid exposure to the smoke.

The city’s Department of Public Health monitored air quality in the area, and said the fire caused an increase in particulate matter, which can exacerbate lung and heart conditions, and released cancer-causing benzene, toxic ethylbenzene and carbon monoxide.

Levels of these pollutants peaked while the fire was burning early Thursday morning, officials said. Samples taken Friday morning indicated levels of these chemicals had dropped back down to “normal levels,” they said.

The fire at the SEPTA facility apparently started sometime before 6:15 a.m., said Andrew Busch, SEPTA’s director of communications. Several buses were soon engulfed in flames, and the fire burned for nearly two hours before it was declared under control.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

The fire included 15 electric buses which had been decommissioned, which SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said could provide a clue to how the fire started. A similar electric bus caught fire in 2022 at a separate SEPTA facility.

Out of the 40 buses being stored at the depot, 15 are Proterra electric buses. The company faced a lawsuit from investors over alleged false or misleading statements about the company’s business and future prospects.

“We have to get them off of our property, away from the potential where we could have an incident like this,” Sauer said. “That could have been far worse. We don’t want to lose an entire facility, and more importantly, we don’t want to hurt anyone. So, we want to get these vehicles off-site.”

Sauer said he’s not sure if this fire was started by the electric bus.

The lot where the fire broke out was filled with decommissioned buses scheduled for disposal, Busch said. He noted that no in-service buses were in the area where the blaze occurred and none were threatened by the fire.

SEPTA decommissions about 100 buses each year when replacement vehicles are purchased. The majority of the burned buses were in line to be sold for scrap.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.