{"id":603033,"date":"2026-04-24T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603033\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:30:16","slug":"bus-fire-blankets-part-of-downtown-dc-in-dark-plume-of-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603033\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus fire blankets part of Downtown DC in dark plume of smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HGoBC_xWkAEvjjO-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"smoke fills the sky\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A dark plume of smoke covers Downtown D.C. on Thursday, April 23.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-2-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"smoke fills the sky in city\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Image-1-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"plane flies through black smoke\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              The smoke could be seen from as far as Old Town Alexandria.<br \/>\n(WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-4-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"firetruck pictured from an overlook\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-6-941x1254.jpg\" alt=\"smoke fills the sky in city\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-5-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"a firetruck pictured from an overlook\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-3-941x1254.jpg\" alt=\"smoke fills the sky in city\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fire-7-941x1254.jpg\" alt=\"smoke fills the sky in city\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Mark Lyon)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Mark Lyon                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Photo-Apr-23-2026-7-42-02-PM-941x1254.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              Personnel with D.C. Fire and EMS were on the scene with foam trucks.<br \/>\n(WTOP\/Kyle Cooper)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                WTOP\/Kyle Cooper                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Photo-Apr-23-2026-7-45-33-PM-1799x1254.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              Multiple firetrucks blocked the 9th Street Tunnel where a bus caught fire Thursday.<br \/>\n(WTOP\/Kyle Cooper)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                WTOP\/Kyle Cooper                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Photo-Apr-23-2026-7-41-13-PM-941x1254.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              Personnel with D.C. Fire and EMS reported to the area of the 9th Street Tunnel in Northwest D.C.<br \/>\n(WTOP\/Kyle Cooper)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                WTOP\/Kyle Cooper                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1000088714-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              A WTOP listener sent in a photo showing the black smoke from the bus fire.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Phillip Ruiz)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Phillip Ruiz                            <\/p>\n<p>A Metrobus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of Downtown D.C.<\/p>\n<p>The bus caught fire in the 9th Street Tunnel around 7 p.m. The bus driver was not injured and no one else was riding the bus when the fire started, Metro said.<\/p>\n<p>The cause of the fire is still unknown.<\/p>\n<p>At a news conference Thursday night, Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke said because the bus was a hybrid diesel vehicle, out of an abundance of caution, all 32 of the buses in Metro\u2019s fleet are being removed from service and will be inspected.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson with D.C. Fire and EMS confirmed with WTOP that the tunnel would be closing as personnel worked to put out the fire. The tunnel and 9th Street Expressway between Constitution Avenue NW and Interstate 395 are closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are working closely with the manufacturer and our bus team is developing plans to mitigate any impacts to bus service as a result of us taking this proactive measure,\u201d WMATA said in a post\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/wmata\/status\/2047488332276318220?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">on social media.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WTOP Traffic reporter Ian Crawford said firefighters could be seen blocking traffic and entering the tunnel with water hoses.<\/p>\n<p>D.C. Fire Chief John Connelly said servicing the fire \u201cwas a tough operation\u201d because firefighters had to pull about \u201c900 feet of hose and carry it in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an operation we train for. It\u2019s one we don\u2019t do very often, though,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard tunnel to come into because it\u2019s one way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Traffic cameras showed the plume of smoke pouring out of the tunnel and hanging over D.C. for more than an hour before dissipating around 8 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if the tunnel will be open to vehicle traffic on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>This page contains a video which is being blocked by your ad blocker.<br \/>In order to view the video you must disable your ad blocker.<\/p>\n<p>Bus fire blankets part of Downtown DC in dark plume of smoke<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing story. Stay with WTOP for the latest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bus that caught fire Thursday evening caused a plume of heavy black smoke to cover part of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[262339,23,30091,262340,249720,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-603033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-9th-street-tunnel","tag-america","tag-bus-fire","tag-dc-fire","tag-metrobus","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}