Gilmore Bridge on fire

Gilmore Bridge fire. Photo by The Wilbur

Live wires that somehow fell from the Gilmore bridge set debris and old railroad ties on fire, causing thick black smoke visible for miles around and shutting down commuter-rail service into and out of North Station.

The fire broke out around 11:40 a.m. on the Cambridge side, bringing fire crews from both Cambridge and Boston and eventually setting fire to the underside of the bridge itself.

Jack Suslak tweeted from a train heading toward North Station around noon:

We are backing up our train to porter square to connect to red line not allowing any trains into Boston.

The fire was knocked down around 12:20 p.m., according to the Boston Fire Department, which says firefighters had to go through a decontamination process at a station set up at Boston Sand and Gravel, due to the unknown nature of some of the stuff that was burning.

Fire visible for miles around