Andrew Wiseman is the author of this post

An orange Old Town Trolley bus burst into flames today just before 6 p.m. on Rhode Island Avenue, NW between 11th and 12th Streets. Before arriving on the scene, this DCist saw and smelled black smoke from outside the Mt. Vernon Square Metro at about 5:50 p.m. and 9th Street was hazy with smoke.

An eyewitness in the house which the bus was in front of said a police officer told her the bus was having mechanical problems and was headed to the repair shop. The eyewitness told us she heard a loud boom from outside and assumed it was people shooting off fireworks. She kept hearing booms then looked outside and saw the bus driver outside the bus with a tow truck nearby and assumed everything was alright. A moment later, she said, “smoke was everywhere.” She then looked out the window and saw a “gigantic” flame. She could feel the heat in her room and was worried the house would catch fire. It didn’t, but a tree in front of it did briefly. Firefighters arrived within a minute, and put the fire in the tree and the bus out in short order.

Bystanders in a house across the street from the charred bus said they could also feel the heat emanating from the fire.

When this DCist arrived on the scene at about 6 p.m., a number of firefighters and vehicles were on the scene spraying water on the blackened, smoking bus, and Rhode Island was closed from 11th to Logan Circle.

WAMU radio reported that the bus driver was the only person on the bus at the time of the fire and there were no injuries.