PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A car fire in the eastbound side of the Downtown Tunnel closed both eastbound and westbound sides Tuesday afternoon, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.
A WAVY viewer who said she had been directly behind the car that caught fire captured photos just after the fire started, as well as video of the fire.
“I was in the car right behind the vehicle that caught on fire,” the person said. “It was one of the scariest moments of my life. It exploded twice. … State troopers backed us out the tunnel. It seemed like forever. I was in the left lane and the vehicle swerved in front of me. The driver hopped out and opened his doors, retrieved his personal items and started panicking. The cars behind me backed up enough so that I wouldn’t be right behind the vehicle.”
The Portsmouth Fire Department said neither the driver nor anyone from the crews fighting the fire was injured. Units from Portsmouth, Norfolk and the Navy Regional Fire Rescue responded to the car fire.
Heavy smoke and flames could be seen in the eastbound tunnel as of 5:03 p.m., and firefighters could be seen walking up to the car and working to extinguish the fire. The fire has since been extinguished, and crews were still in the eastbound tunnel as of 6 p.m. One lane of the eastbound tunnel reopened to traffic just after 6:45 p.m., and both lanes had reopened just after 7 p.m.
VDOT had a detour in place for eastbound Interstate 264 traffic.
A WAVY viewer stopped in traffic outside the eastbound Downtown Tunnel provided an image just after 5 p.m. showing thick black smoke coming from the tunnel.
Around 5:40 p.m., VDOT cameras showed the smoke had subsided significantly. The westbound side of the Downtown Tunnel reopened just before 6 p.m.
Hampton Roads Transit said that due to the car fire, the Route 45 and 980 buses were detouring Tuesday evening using the Midtown Tunnel. It said no stops would be missed, but riders should expect delays.
In the meantime, the woman who witnessed the vehicle in front of her catch on fire said she’s a little more leery about driving through the tunnel after the incident.
“I believe I might be a little nervous going into the tunnel now,” the woman told 10 On Your Side off-camera. “You don’t really be scared of the tunnel until something like this happens, because basically, we were trapped. What you see on TV, you think that’s what’s about to happen, but it actually did.”