70 MBTA Bus Almost Catches Fire

A MBTA bus on Route 70 on Sunday, February 11, 2018 almost caught fire, leaving passengers stranded for more than 20 minutes to wait for the next bus as scheduled to arrive. It was forced to pull over by Grove Hill Cemetery off Main Street in Waltham.

A smell of rubber started from the back of the bus. "At first people just ignored it," a male passenger. "Then it filled the entire inside of the bus and everyone had to get out." Passengers rushed to get out of the bus, hoping it would not make them sick or the bus would not catch on fire with them in it. They were forced to wait, hoping another bus would arrive, empty without passengers so they could get to their locations within a reasonable time. This did not happen, and passengers were forced to wait. A man said, "I am going to be late for work," and called his workplace as to let his manager know he would be late, which was at the Watertown Mall up the street from where the bus was forced to pull over due to the smoke.

"There should have been another bus sent up immediately," said a female passenger, who was also on her way to work. "The Sunday schedule is awful as it is. If we wanted to get the next bus, we would have left our house later."

Fortunately, the Waltham Police and Fire crews arrived in a timely manner. The Fire Department worked to quickly put out the flames, which were coming from the top part of the bus. The Police Department arrived and took a statement from the bus driver. People started standing back more, as the smoke was put out.

Eventually, another bus arrived to take the passengers to work in the pouring rain. People were soaking wet, but it was unfortunate they had to wait until the next scheduled bus arrived.

Thank you Waltham Police and Waltham Fire for your services in the matter.