Friday, June 15, 2012

Transbay Bart Station Shut down in Oakland & San Francisco Due To 3 Alarm Fire



Early Thursday morning June 14, 2012 around 2:15 a.m. a fire broke out, at an under-construction senior center in a framing stage. The fire was next to the West Oakland BART station between Fifth and Seventh streets. Battalion Chief Adrian Sheppard said, “The fire spread to include lampposts, cars, power poles, took down electrical wires and spread to the elevated BART tracks, potentially damaging the tracks and necessitating shutting down power to the tracks.” He also said that “No one was injured and no homes or occupied buildings were damaged in the blaze.” Bart official Jim Allison said “it is too early to tell how long the Transbay Tube may be closed, and whether it may be a matter of hours or even days.” He also said “that a preliminary examination of the tracks suggests there may not be any physical damage and that there is mainly an electrical problem, however that estimate may change.” Bart officials said West Oakland BART station is closed entirely and to find an alternate route. AC Transit official Clarence Johnson says they have not added any additional buses because they don’t have any. Transit officials have changed the bus routes to accommodate BART riders.
Wow! This is the worst time for a fire to break out and shut down the West Oakland Transbay Terminal to San Francisco. BART has thousands of people that commute on a daily basis. With the U.S. open going on in San Francisco the riders on BART have probably doubled. The traffic on highway 880 north bound trying to get into Oakland from Union City, Fremont and Hayward has been a nightmare. Streetwise Courier Service was supposed to pick up for their client today in Oakland and deliver to Fremont. It was canceled due to the traffic situation on 880 north bound. The traffic situation on 80 west bound coming from San Pablo and Richmond going into Berkeley and Emeryville is bad as well. People are panicky and causing accidents adding to the problem. It is a good thing no one was hurt in this fire. It may be a little inconvenient for a while. Slow down people it’s not that serious.
LM