By Dustin Brown
A fire broke out in an electrical room at the Ditmars Boulevard subway station Saturday morning, sending a low cloud of smoke onto the platform and briefly suspending subway service on the N and W lines, fire officials said.
One firefighter injured his leg at the scene and two token booth clerks were treated for smoke inhalation, said Capt. Charles Sollin, the acting chief of Battalion 49.
Firefighters responded around 8:30 a.m. when smoke was reported at the elevated subway station, which sits on 31st Street between 23rd Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard above a dense strip of stores. The station is the last stop for the N and W trains.
“The smoke banked out to the platform,” Sollin said. “People were scrambling out of here.”
Firefighters eventually traced the source of the smoke to a room on the southwest side of the station that provides electricity to light the platform, Sollin said.
In order to reach the blaze, firefighters were forced to break down the locked doors of the electrical room and the adjacent women’s bathroom, where the fire was also burning, Sollin said.
It was brought under control within an hour.
The fire was likely sparked by an electrical malfunction and was not deemed suspicious, Sollin said.
Service on the N and W lines was suspended for nearly two hours between Queensboro Plaza and Ditmars Boulevard as firefighters battled the blaze, but shuttle bus service was provided to cart passengers between the two stops. Subway cars started running through Astoria Boulevard, the next to last stop on both lines, shortly after 10 a.m. and full service resumed later in the afternoon.
The fire also caused the electric turnstiles to malfunction at Ditmars and neighboring stations in Queens, New York City Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said, prompting transit employees to open the gates and give straphangers a free ride.
Many passengers began walking south along 31st Street when access to the Ditmars station was cut off, while at least one Queens-bound straphanger went by foot from Queensboro Plaza to Ditmars, a distance of more than 2 1/2 miles.
But foot traffic among the stores along 31st Street was still light at that time of morning.
A thin scent of smoke pervaded the subway station well after the fire was put out, and water used to douse the flames continued to trickle down from the station to the roadway long after the trucks were gone.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
