Fire in old Filene's building forces Downtown Crossing station closure

February 13, 2008 09:14 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Daniel Peleschuk and Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondents

Smoke from a fire in the old Filene's Basement building forced authorities to evacuate about 50 people from the Downtown Crossing MBTA station and close the station for nearly two hours, Boston fire officials said tonight.

One person was taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, said Deputy Chief Steve Dunbar.

Part of the station is underneath the Filene's building, a fixture for decades in the Downtown Crossing area that is currently being redeveloped.

Police and firefighters responded at about 7 p.m. to the fire in the eight-story building at the intersection of Summer and Washington streets, Dunbar said.

Pipe insulation and other materials caught fire in one of the buildings's sub-basments, said Steven MacDonald, a fire department spokesman.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The building is known to contain asbestos. Authorities are investigating the possibility that asbestos was released into the air during the fire, Dunbar said.

As a precautionary measure, 18 firefighters and five civilians went through asbestos decontamination, MacDonald said.

"The biggest problem wasn't so much the fire. The problem was the smoke that it generated," he said.

The Red and Orange lines went through the MBTA station without stopping until the fire was knocked down, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. The station reopened at about 8:50 p.m.