PITTSBURGH — An underground electrical fire caused several manhole covers to blow off in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Jonathan Smith was walking to lunch when he saw the explosion.
“It was a loud boom, probably the loudest sound I’d ever heard in person in my life. We looked up and saw the manhole cover go up about 40 to 50 feet and kind of fly down like a leaf.”
Smoke was coming from the manholes on Grant Street just after the covers blew off between 6th and 7th Avenue around noon.
“There was an electrical fire underneath Grant Street right here at about Seventh that had caught fire and the pressure, and the buildup of that fire caused these manholes covers to blow off,” said Public Information Officer Emily Bourne.
According to Pittsburgh Public Safety, the fire was isolated to a series of wires. No buildings nor intersections lost power during or after the fire. There were no injures or evacuations reported, but many people say they felt the ground shake and heard the loud pop.
“It just shook everything. It was discombobulating,” said bystander Austin Fairbanks. “It was just like ‘what the hell was that’ for a second. My brain was like ‘holy crap was my wife was ok?’”
Smith said when he heard the sound, his initial reaction was to run.
“Honestly, at that point, I was thinking of the nearest way to run away.”
A portion of Grant Street was closed for some of the afternoon as Duquesne Light worked underground to fix the wires.
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