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Midtown Streets Reopen After Three-Alarm Manhole Fire
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 7, 2010
Modified Apr 7, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 7, 2010
Modified Apr 7, 2010
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Yesterday afternoon, a fire from a West 52nd Street manhole forced the evacuation of four buildings and shut down streets, because of extremely high carbon monoxide levels. In fact, one Broadway show—Jersey Boys, at the August Wilson Theatre—was cancelled. This morning, Broadway between 51st and 53rd Streets re-opened, but West 52nd Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue is still closed as officials continue to investigate the fire.
It's believed that the fire was caused by overheated power lines in the underground transformer vault. One witness told the Daily News, "Part of the street basically exploded. The asphalt blew open." The fire occurred across the street from the Novotel hotel, where the FDNY measured dangerous levels of CO up to the seventh floor (levels as high as 700 ppm were found; 35 ppm is when a CO detector would sound). The NY Times found one guest, Jean-Francois Sanchez, and his wife had quite the experience:
Mr. Sanchez said they took a cab from the airport and were dropped off at 48th Street and told to walk the remaining four blocks with their luggage. A hotel worker then told them to get some food and return in a couple of hours.
When they returned at 8:30 p.m., the street was still closed, and Con Ed employees were furiously working on the manhole. A Red Cross employee said the hotel was hiring a bus to shuttle guests to other hotels across the city.
“It’s amazing,” Mr. Sanchez said. “It’s my first time in New York, and this happens.”
There was also a line of concertgoers on West 52nd Street, waiting for the Atoms for Peace concert at the Roseland Ballroom. The club's West 52nd Street entrance was closed and almost all tickets were will call, so a line of Thom Yorke fans snaked from 53rd Street to 51st Street and around the corner toward Broadway for hours. Thankfully, the concert (which was stellar) started late to accommodate the insanity, and when Yorke took the stage around 10 p.m., he remarked, "Well, this has been an interesting afternoon. A friend called me and said, 'You've got to go on now—I've been drinking all day and can barely stand up!'"
Tagged
carbon monoxide
fire
manhole fire
midtown
Novotel
three alarm fire
transformer fire
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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