Last Tuesday, March 15, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld announced late in the afternoon that the D.C. Metro System would close starting on Wednesday at midnight until 5 a.m. Thursday morning. Wiedefeld called for emergency inspections of the power cables after an early morning tunnel fire on Tuesday.

"While the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life safety issue here, and that is why we must take this action immediately," Wiedefeld said. "When I say safety is our highest priority, I mean it. That sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions, and this is one of those times. I fully recognize the hardship this will cause."

Metro workers reviewed and evaluated around 600 underground jumper cables for safety after a previous issue that occurred with these cables caused a fire at McPherson Square Station in L'Efant Plaza.

“The investigation into yesterday’s cable fire at McPherson Square is ongoing," Wiedefeld said. “As a preliminary matter, the conditions appear disturbingly similar to those in the L’Enfant incident of a year ago, and our focus is squarely on mitigating any risk of a fire elsewhere on the system."

This closing affected hundreds of thousands of DMV residents, commuters, and tourists, who use the metro system on a daily basis, leaving them to find alternate ways of transportation. However, other popular transportation companies, such as DC Taxicab and DC Streetcar reminded commuters that there are other options to use in the DC area. However, DC traffic on area roads throughout the day was very heavy in comparison to the average work day in the Metropolitan area.

Metro also announced that parking in all of their garages in the DMV was free on Wednesday for people taking buses or carpooling.

By 6 p.m., Metro workers found 26 issues regarding the power cables used by metro trains which will need repair or replacement, Wiedefeld said at a news conference.

The Metro system reopened as scheduled the following morning.