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City Officials Clean Up After Explosion

Thursday, September 21, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - September 21, 2006 (WPVI) -- Only one business is still reported without power. Crews have been working underground since 6pm but had to wait until the area was secure and cooled off before they started to make repairs. Crews will be working through the night so that the City can return to normal by Friday.

Only one business is still reported without power. Crews have been working underground since 6pm but had to wait until the area was secure and cooled off before they started to make repairs. Crews will be working through the night so that the city can return to normal by Friday.

PECO trucks take up most of the space in the narrow ally off 15 Street. Crews will spend most of the night underground where a raging fire paralyzed the City earlier Thursday.

PECO crews have been making repairs and restoring power outages caused by Thursday's explosions all night. Around dinnertime there were still four businesses along Chestnut Street without power. Five Bros Burgers opened just a month ago and lost an entire day of business. The owner told Action News by phone it was a financial hit for the new restaurant that does a strong lunch business. And lunchtime Thursday was certainly chaotic.

It happened around 1:30 p.m. near 15th and Ramstead Streets. PECO spokesman Michael Wood told Action News that they believe a customer incorrectly tried to switch cables, which overloaded the system sparking the fire. Wood said gasses built up causing the explosion. Several manhole covers around 15th Street blew off.

"We walked over to the side and saw black smoke coming out of one of the manholes," Boris Vanynblat told Action News reporter John Rawlins. "While we were standing there, the manhole closer to us exploded and shot up into the air."

Bernie McAndrews, a witness, said the explosion "sounded like a building fell over it was so loud."

Thousands spilled onto the streets. Firefighters and police pushed their way through a paralyzed Center City. Workers were confused about what happened and unsure of what to do next.

A street vendor described the chaos as "911 all over again".

Crews got control of the underground electrical fires in a couple of hours, but the gridlock that followed frustrated weary workers anxious to get home.

Commissioner Lloyd Ayers described the fire as "very dangerous." He said, "It's an electrical grid with secondary lines that involve tiles, wood, things like that."

Fire officials declared the situation under control at 3:39 p.m.

The fire eventually consumed about a block of cabling and transformers. Officials said about five thousand people were evacuated from nearby buildings. One person was taken to the hospital with apparently minor injuries.

Workers who were evacuated told Action News reporter Sarah Bloomquist that the events of the afternoon were scary. Thousands of them streamed out of Center City high-rises. Some of their offices lost power. Many had heard or felt the explosions.

"We were in the lobby and it was just a huge explosion," said Erika Ramos. "We felt the ground kind of move. That was it, and then somebody said we got to leave immediately."

Evacuated workers stood on street corners using their cell phones. Many had left their keys in their offices and they could not get home. Many had stories to tell about where they stood when the Center City buildings shook.

"It was this big explosion," said Frank DiMauro. "A little while later there was a smaller one. I went downstairs and I saw in the alley way that goes between 15th and 16th black smoke coming out of the ground."

Authorities evacuated two buildings, Center Square and the Graham building. Several other high rises lost power, and thousands of people left those buildings on their own. Authorities did close streets in the area.

Power was lost hundreds of commercial customers. PECO crews restored power to all but a handful by late Thursday afternoon.

The area is also near an underground subway and commuter rail station, but officials with SEPTA said those services were running normally.

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