Fire

A ConEd transformer blew up Wednesday night on Avenue C, rocketing manhole covers 30 feet up into the air, after which a 45-minute pyrotechnic display attracted onlookers and FDNY response teams. ‘I thought something was wrong because the lights were flickering on and off all morning long,’ reported local resident Roger Kaufman as he returned home at 9 PM only to find his block taped off by NYPD.

At around 8 PM the primary explosion reverberated throughout the neighborhood like a cannon. Immediately thereafter the two manhole covers which had been shot into the air returned to earth, sounding like snow plows as teach bounced off Avenue C between E. 2nd and E. 3rd Streets. Orange flames then erupted from the manholes, their tips transforming into billowing black smoke. Secondary explosions beneath the ground then forced out the orange flames, replacing them with showering of blue-white sparks. Reverberated throughout the duct system beneath Avenue C, the explosions sounded as if emanated by a gargantuan, underground trumpet.

As this scene unfolded on the street, lights in adjacent apartment buildings and private homes could be seen flickering through their respective window. Once completely out, the occupants in these structures came out into the street where they watched, along with ConEd and FDNY personnel, the transformer burn itself out. Around 11 PM, emergency crews from ConEd arrived and busied themselves in the attempt to restore power to the block. These efforts continued throughout the night, and it is reported that power was not restored until 6 AM. By late yesterday afternoon the recovery effort continued with ConEd crews still working to replace feeder cables and transformers wrecked by the previous night’s havoc. It is rumored that salt used during the recent Brooklyn blizzard precipitated the underground electrical explosion.