According to new data from the MTA, East 180th Street in the Bronx and the 14th Street-Union Square station have been the most fire-prone stations in the city’s subway system over the past five years.
From June 2019 to June 2024, East 180th Street saw 43 fires—more than any other station during that time period. The second worst station was 14th Street-Union Square, where there were 33 fires on the 4 train that serves the station during the same time period. Third place went to the upper level of Grand Central Terminal.
During a meeting of the MTA’s subway fire committee last month, Timothy Doddo, vice president and chief safety officer, called fires set by vandals “very difficult for us to control.”
Still, Doddo said new efforts to improve conditions at the stations appear to be having an impact. From June 2023 to June 2024, there were only seven fires at Union Square Station and seven fires at 180th Street Station.
Fires can cause enormous delays for commuters.
“This is where we need to ensure that these particular impacts on our ability to provide on-time service are addressed,” said MTA Chairman Janno Lieber.
Greater efforts to contain track fires of all kinds – which peaked during the pandemic – also appear to be paying off.
Since last month, the number of fires on tracks, platforms and in subway cars has fallen to the lowest level since 2019. There were 55 fires across the system in July, compared to a recent high of 150 in February 2022. From July 2023 to July 2024, there were 904 track fires, compared to 1,283 in the same period last year.
The MTA attributes this to the thorough cleaning provided by its three multi-million dollar vacuum trains. The MTA currently has three vacuum trains, but only two are in use at any one time.
Nearly 90% of fires in subway stations are caused by trash set on fire, the MTA said. More than half of fires in train cars are caused by debris, according to an MTA presentation by Doddo. His statistics did not distinguish between someone intentionally setting something on fire and debris ignited by the power rail, a discarded cigarette or another source.
Other measures to reduce fires include replacing the insulation of power rail cables, which corrode in winter due to salt spread on the roads.
The MTA has also sprayed wooden railroad ties with flame retardants to prevent fires.
The most notorious fire in the MTA’s recent history occurred during the pandemic, when a 50-year-old man allegedly set fire to a shopping cart on a Line 2 train in Upper Manhattan. Subway operator Garrett Goble, 36, died and more than a dozen people were injured.
Lieber praised Doddo for his efforts to reduce the number of track fires, pointing out that fires had caused even greater disruption to train services in the 1970s.
“I have not forgotten what a huge impact this has had on our ability to operate the system safely and reliably. So this is a significant initiative,” Lieber said last month.
