Fire at Downtown Crossing shuts Red, Orange, Green lines

Smoke billowing out of the Filene's Basement entrance to Downtown Crossing tonight. By Steve Laniel.

Friday morning commute could be a mess, at least on the Red Line, so leave some extra time and check mbta.com.

A three-alarm electrical fire on the Red Line tracks at Downtown Crossing sent acrid smoke billowing through subway tunnels around 10 p.m., shutting down three of the MBTA's four subway lines downtown and sending at least 20 people to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Smoke reached at least as far as Boylston on the Green Line and South Station on the Red Line - where Silver Line service was disrupted as well. Several electrical cables on the Alewife-bound side of the Red Line platform at Downtown Crossing began burning around 10 p.m.

Kevin Gilnack tweeted shortly after 10 p.m.:

Ton of smoke & flames on red line @ downtown crossing, just evacuated the station

Ben tweeted:

wall of smoke from downtown crossing station fire rolling toward park street as i leaned out to peer down the tunnel.

Eric Gittleman tweeted the alarms started ringing at Park Street and that

Smoke all over Tremont Street. It's acrid. T worker just locked up Boylston

Adam Weiss videoed a smoke-filled Green Line station before it was shut:

He also shot the scene at Park Street:

Gilnack tweeted:

All u can hear btwn downtown crossing & sought station is sirens.

Last Sept. 16:
Meltdown on the Red and Orange lines.