Part of a busy Boston street was temporarily closed to traffic as firefighters responded to reports of manhole explosions.
Cell phone video captured flames shooting out of the ground near the intersection of Fairfield and Boylston streets around noon Tuesday. At least two manhole fires sent thick black plumes of smoke rising into the air near the Mandarin Hotel.
“We felt the boom right underneath our feet and obviously we saw it. The manhole was 10 to 15 feet in the air and there were flames shooting out from underground,” land surveyor Peter Kondek said. “We’re lucky we were nowhere close to it, but it was definitely alarming and it could have been a harmful situation for us.”
The other men in Kondek’s crew said they had been standing on top of the manhole covers all morning to do their measuring. One crew member said he saw one of the 100-200 pound manhole covers fly up in the air and come crashing down on the pavement where it split in half.
“If anybody was near that thing or happened to be standing on top of that thing, they would be seriously injured,” Kondek said. “There have been cars driving to park and if a car was on top of that thing, I can only imagine what would have happened to the car.”
No injuries were reported.
National Grid and Eversource crews have also been called to the scene.
“Our crews will remain on scene until they can access inside the manhole to investigate and assess any equipment damage,” An Eversource spokesperson wrote in a statement.
No power outages have been reported but Eversource crews said it may be necessary to cut the electricity to repair the damage.
The cause of the explosion has not been released.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)