Burning vehicle causes backups on Outer Loop in Forestville

A vehicle caught on fire on Pennsylvania Avenue directly under the Beltway overpass in Forestville, Maryland, on Thursday evening.

The smoke and flames reached the Outer Loop overpass and drivers on the Beltway reported seeing smoke billowing out from the underpass.

Firefighters with Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department requested that the Outer Loop be closed for emergency bridge inspection.



An emergency work zone was cleared ahead of Exit 11; delays remain. All northbound laned of Pennsylvania Avenue, where the vehicle burned, reclosed around 9:30 p.m.

The vehicle burned for a while around 6:30 p.m. before firefighters arrived and extinguished it.

The Outer Loop was closed around 6:50 p.m. with all northbound traffic sent southbound on Route 4.

Below is a map of where the fire broke out:

(Courtesy Google Maps)

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Ciara Wells

Ciara Wells is the Evening Digital Editor at WTOP. She is a graduate of American University where she studied journalism and Spanish. Before joining WTOP, she was the opinion team editor at a student publication and a content specialist at an HBCU in Detroit.

Dave Dildine

A native to the Washington area, Dave Dildine is no stranger to the region's complex traffic and weather patterns. Dave joined WTOP in 2010 when the station launched its very own in-house traffic service. You can hear him "on the 8s and when it breaks" from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

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