Brush fires near the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA station tracks on Feb. 2 resulted in transit delays as stations were packed with visitors in town for Super Bowl 53.
Billowing clouds of smoke were spotted about 5:30 p.m. at three separate spots along the MARTA tracks ithat run parallel to Peachtree Road in Brookhaven: one near the Waffle House, one almost directly across the street from City Hall and another just south of the station building. DeKalb County Fire Rescue, MARTA Police and Brookhaven Police responded to the scenes.
BPD Major Brandon Gurley said in an email the fires were brush fires but he did not know the cause. Railroad tracks run very close to the MARTA tracks and sparks from the rail cars have caused brush fires in the past.
MARTA was forced to stop north and south service to Brookhaven, Chamblee and Doraville stations for nearly two hours and used buses to transport people to the Lenox station, according to the MARTA twitter feed. North and south bound service to the stations was back up and running at about 8 p.m.
