Underground Fire Sends Flames Through Pa. Manholes

An underground electrical fire in downtown York City burned for more than two hours Monday night, spewing thick black smoke and flames from three manholes.

The fire was reported about 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of South Duke and East King streets.

In order to douse the flames, Met-Ed had to shut off the local power grid in the area, said York City Fire Chief David Michaels.

The fire was extinguished a little before 10 p.m., he said.

"This was a lot of fire on this one," Michaels said. "This fire actually was pretty much about a block long."

No injuries were reported.

Met-Ed crews had to wait to go into the underground "vault" to repair the electric lines until high temperatures from the blaze decreased, he said.

Outage: A nearly four-block radius around Continental Square, as well as other areas in the city, were in the dark because of the power outage, Michaels said.

Additional fire police from surrounding departments were called in to direct traffic at intersections where traffic signals didn't have power.

At the height of the outage, 864 house and businesses were without power, according to Met-Ed.

Power to traffic signals was restored about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Kathy Seilhamer, a Met-Ed spokeswoman, said it's not clear when power will be restored to the rest of the city.

Inspectors from Columbia Gas were also called in and determined that it "doesn't look like gas was involved" in the fire, said spokesman Russell Bedell.

Flaming manholes: The underground fire created a great amount of pressure, blowing off at least one manhole cover, Michaels said.

That, he added, posed a substantial risk to residents and emergency crews in the area.

"What it does, it blows the manhole covers up off the streets," Michaels said. "When we got here, we were able to get those manhole covers off to prevent that from happening."

Burning insulation around the wires created thick black smoke that spread to parts of the city. Firefighters were dispatched to a few calls for smoke during the South Duke Street incident, Michaels said.

The underground fire spread from East King Street, south on South Duke Street to East Mason Avenue.

At times, underground explosions could be heard, and flames shot about 12 feet in the air from the manholes.

Onlookers: The explosions were what attracted the attention of Miguel Rosado, who lives in the 100 block of South Duke Street.

A neighbor told him about the explosions, and he ventured outside to see what was happening.

"It's crazy," Rosado said as he stared at the fire. "That's scary."

No homes in the area were evacuated, Michaels said, but the Salvation Army at 124 S. Duke St. was because smoke blew into its basement.

The organization was holding an event with children in attendance at the time, he said. Salvation Army officials set up its canteen service and provided drinks to firefighters.

Willie Nevin, a valet at the Yorktowne Hotel in the first block of East Market Street, was working in the hotel's garage when he heard explosions and smelled something burning. At first he thought a car was on fire.

"It smelled like plastic or wires burning," Nevin said.

With the power out, hotel guests sat in the glow of candlelight in the bar area of the OffCenter Grill inside the hotel.

Nicole Nichols, banquet captain at the hotel, said there were no plans to close the hotel. "The hotel hasn't been evacuated," she said.