An explosion sent a metal manhole cover flying into the air yesterday evening, apparently caused by an electrical fire that burned for hours under North Charles Street downtown, causing power to be cut to a large swath of downtown, slightly injuring a pedestrian and emptying restaurants and bars of patrons.
Traffic was diverted off one of the city's main thoroughfares starting shortly after 5 p.m., during the height of the evening rush hour, and the closures continued into this morning. Dozens of firefighters converged on Charles Street between Saratoga and Mulberry streets to evacuate residents and work on extinguishing the blaze.
About five hours later, electricity was shut off to a 25-square-block area to assist firefighters in efforts to find the source of the blaze in an underground conduit pipe, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman.
Hours after the explosion, light gray smoke could be seen coming from the manhole.
Cartwright said that after the initial explosion, flames shot 12 to 14 feet into the air, and thick, black smoke poured from the hole. At 12:30 a.m. today, Cartwright said the fire was still burning underground but that firefighters had made significant progress. About 150 firefighters, BGE workers and police were on the scene.
"It can be a challenge to fight because of the underground location," Cartwright said.
After attempts to suffocate the fire with a carbon dioxide substance were unsuccessful, electricity was cut to a grid that encompasses Monument Street to the north, Charles Street to the east, Baltimore Street to the south and Greene Street to the west, Cartwright said. The outage, which was put into effect to help firefighters hunt down the source of the fire and to allow BGE crews to fix the damage, was expected to last approximately 3 1/2 hours, he said.
Last night, the scene resembled more of a construction project than a fire, as crews waited for BGE to shut off power before climbing into the hole. Late last night, some traffic lights and many streetlights were out. Entire buildings were dark, while others had lights on. Sporadic buildings still had power because they were on another power grid, Cartwright said.
At 5:30 p.m., a firefighter could be heard on his radio, "We have burning under the street." An hour later, a fire commander ordered firefighters on Charles Street to rest: "All units, drop your turnouts and helmets. Cool down." Still another firefighter: "We won't know anything until we can get under the streets."
