, we thought, as we stared blankly out of our downtown office window this morning. That's an awful lot of cop cars speeding down the street. Then we got an email from SFist Karen, asking if anyone had heard about a fire around Stockton Street. We checked the breaking news and it turns out there was a track fire on the BART between the Embarcadero and Montgomery Street stops. Witnesses (including SFist Karen) report seeing a black plume of smoke from street vents in the area. That means BART hasn't yet named a new pope, right?

The fire department called it a two-alarm fire, and raced to the scene. In any event, the fire is out now, and two people were treated for minor injuries -- one was sent to the hospital in case of smoke inhalation. There is no BART service for all of downtown. As a result, BART is running shuttle buses from West Oakland to Civic Center. MUNI has also stopped running downtown as well. (Is MUNI running shuttle buses, you ask. Ha!) Based on the initial evidence, terrorism is not suspected, but has not yet been definitively ruled out either.

Update: All BART and MUNI trains are now back in service. The fire was caused by trash combining with oil on the tracks and a spark.

Teensy picture of the scene from KTVU

Funny