…It’s a day like any other, you just had your lunch when suddenly the Earth starts to shake, and then you hear “BOOOM!” And no, it’s not a bomb as many Twitter users including Kitty Pryde suggested, it’s simply another manhole exploding.
Today at about 1PM residents of Evergreen Ave and Jefferson Street heard an explosion, and saw 12-foot high flames, according to a witness. FDNY extinguished the fire and ConED arrived at the spot as well. Luckily nobody got hurt.
Our friend Jack Norcross was in the neighborhood, and was able to talk to Miracle Wilkerson from Williamsburg Works Construction who witnessed the explosion. Jack said that when he arrived a firefighter said that it was old wiring down there, and that this happens all the time when it’s heavy rain or snow. He also said that they had put the fire out, although it was still smoking pretty heavily. Here is what went down:
J: So you saw it happen. Were you walking?
MW: Actually, I was working. So, I came down, I seen it smoking, the actual thing over it shaking, and everybody was telling me, hey, it’s gonna blow, basically, stay away from it. I went upstairs, by the time I got upstairs, I looked out the window, I heard the loud pop, boom. The whole thing flew up in the air, the metal gate, and it was all rushing out, more smoke, more smoke. And then the fire department came, and they put the cover back over it, and it busted again. It blew up again. And then fire started igniting from it. Fire started coming from it. And then eventually, the firefighters left. ConEd is here. Wow, they weren’t even supposed to leave until ConEd came… It happened like a good hour ago. Yeah, it’s still smoking, the fire department came, all lined up on the block, standing there, doing nothing.
J: Yeah, there are some people over there now, not sure what’s going on.
MW: Oh yeah, they’re going down in there. But ConEd didn’t come here for like a good hour. ConEdison is all around New York City… And yeah, they came here late, it’s still polluting the air, it’s still fucking up everything.
J: But for a while you were saying there was like a big 12-foot flame shooting out of it?
MW: Absolutely, for maybe like ten minutes. But it was raining, so thank god. The rain was actually slowing it down. Shit, the building probably could have caught on fire if the sun had been shining the way it is now, but it was actually raining hard.
J: Yeah. Were the flames going when they put the manhole over on it?
MW: No, no, no, when they put the manhole cover on it, I think the fire was already contained and they just dropped it back on there and it blew back up.
J: But it’s still heavy smoke. Has it been heavier than that?
MW: It was heavier than that. When the fire was going, it was heavier than that. I guess it’s slowing down now but it’s still coming out of that.
J: Yeah, definitely.