Dec 22, 2008 12:24 am US/Eastern
Underground Fires Strand Hundreds In Freezing Cold
Road Salt May Have Corroded Wires Underground, Causing Manhole Fires
Josh Landis, CBS 2 HD
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Slippery roads and freezing temperatures are among the dangers that come with winter weather, but there's another danger many don't know about – underground fires.
Hundreds were forced out into the cold Sunday, and the road salt used to melt the snow brought by this weekend's storms could be to blame.
The streets of New York were on fire Sunday.
"I seen the sewer, a whole lot of smoke, and I heard a loud boom," Devon Doweary said.
From the Bronx to the Upper West Side, toxic fumes from manhole fires forced almost three hundred people - including Anna Candelario and her four children - out into the cold.
"It was very scary – my children were very panicked," Candelario said. "Everybody was overwhelmed, and we just came out[side]."
Con Edison says a total of six underground fires broke out today and the cause for some of them was road salt used to melt snow.
"How did the fire start in the manhole? Probably arcing from the salt and the wet wires," FDNY Battalion Chief Kevin Loughran said. "The insulation probably wore off."
The salt used to keep the roads safer comes with a price. It seeped into a manhole cover, corroding wires and starting a fire.
That spread fumes into a restaurant and into the apartments above. That's when authorities knew they had to act.
"Nobody likes to leave their apartment, especially in the cold weather, but they left and we have a city bus on site to keep them warm," Loughran said.
Forty people were cleared out in the Bronx.
In Manhattan, 250 people evacuated their youth hostel on Amsterdam Avenue, while tourists who couldn't get their bags earlier in the day rushed to the airport.
Con Edison workers checked the air quality underground, and that digilance continues through the night with crews capping new wires and looking for ways to stop the next dangerous fire before it begins.
The Office of Emergency Management says everyone who was evacuated Sunday is back at home.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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