People Kicked Out Windows To Flee Blaze

PHILADELPHIA - Passengers on a SEPTA train that caught fire Wednesday say people kicked out windows on the train to escape.

Slideshow: Images Of SEPTA Train Fire | Video: Fire Aftermath

Passenger Steve Greist told Fox 29 that passengers took control of the situation on his car, which was connected to the lead car that caught fire.

The SEPTA R5 train from Malvern caught fire in Philadelphia's Overbrook section this morning. About 250 people were evacuated.

“People yelled ‘kick out the windows,’” he said, and then commuters helped other people through the windows onto the track.

Smoke was starting to fill that second car when the passengers evacuated themselves, he said.

The AP spoke with several other passengers who told similar stories.

William Rafferty, 27, of Pottstown, a lab technician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he had to calm down another passenger on the packed train, and he saw other passengers kicking out the removable emergency windows.

"It started to smoke while were stopped at the (Overbrook) station," said paralegal Laura Bryans, 37, and conductors soon told everyone to move to one of the rear cars. She eventually moved all of the way to the final car and got out when the train stopped and was evacuated.

"You could smell something, but I thought it was the brakes," said Cynthia Reid, 55, who works in a community college financial aid office and was in the second car on her commute from Thorndale in Chester County

Black smoke began pouring out soon after the train pulled out of the station, she said.

"I don't understand why we even left the station," Reid said. "I have no idea how I'm getting in to work today."

Initial reports are all passengers and crew got off the train safely. Witnesses told Fox 29 that some passengers jumped from windows on the stopped train to avoid the flames and smoke.

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The fire was reported around 7:08 a.m. and contained around 7:30 a.m.

Philadelphia is in day two of a mass transit strike that affects buses and subways, but not trains.

Initial reports indicate the fire was started by dry leaves on the tracks, which caused the fire to spread to the undercarriage of the train.