Brush fires in New Jersey disrupt rush hour NJ TRANSIT commuters

Edison Police told CBS2 the fires were caused by sparks coming from the bottom of a train along the Northeast Corridor. 

However, the New Jersey DEP said they are still investigating the cause, and it is too soon to determine. 

Dan Rice discussed the challenges firefighters face as they try to contain the brush fires. See it in the video above. 

One blaze spread to a train support beam in Matawan. We’re told that fire was mostly extinguished. 

Commuters were stuck on an Amtrak train at Metropark Station. 

The Northeast Corridor line was suspended in both directions between Trenton and New York Penn Station. 

One woman new to the area says she barely knows how to get home using transit. 

“I actually just started working in New York, like two, three weeks ago. So I’m still learning the subway, the train station and everything. So yeah, this is kind of really inconvenient,” she said. “So the guy told me the only way to get to Hamilton is the bus, and I’ve never taken the bus from here before. So now I have to figure out how to do that.” 

NJ TRANSIT briefly suspended Northeast Corridor service as a result of the fires. 

The fires took place right by the railbed of the tracks, which are owned by Amtrak. 

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fires, which were taking place in Hackensack, Edison, New Brunswick, Matawan, Wayne and Highland Park. 

Some commuters at New York’s Penn Station had to figure out another way to get home. Rush hour is normally busy, but the cancellations led to Penn Station getting extremely crowded. 

“The last three trains heading to Trenton have been canceled,” one commuter said. 

“Do you have another way of getting home,” CBS2’s Alecia Reid asked. 

“Not really. I’ll get home eventually,” he replied. 

“I have no way to get home. So I don’t know what to do,” another commuter said. “I guess I’ll take an Uber or something. I don’t know what to do.” 

Morris and Essex, Midtown Direct and North Jersey Coastline continued to operate, but were extremely crowded. 

Chopper 2 was over the scene. Check out Dan Rice’s report in the video above.