Manhole Fire on Stratford This Morning

If you saw a fire truck, smoke, and heard lots of loud popping noises on Stratford near Beverley like neighbor Matt did, turns out it was a manhole fire.

FDNY tells us that they got a call about a manhole fire in the middle of Stratford, between Hinckley and Beverley, at about 5:30am. Con Ed was notified, and thankfully the fire didn’t extend into any buildings, it was just in the underground manhole area. They say nobody needed to be evacuated, and that there were no injuries.

UPDATE: Neighbor Gordon Rothman sends in this photo and the following account:

This was the scene on Stratford this morning, shortly before 7. A firefighter had rung my bell about twenty minutes earlier to check for heat in the meter room (and found none), and warned me we might lose power. When I walked into the street, outside the caution tape, I was startled by a belch of flame and smoke from a previously dormant manhole.

A bit after 7, the power did go out, and I had another visit from the FDNY, this time checking for carbon monoxide in the basement (and found none). He said the fire was out, but it could be another couple of hours before power was restored. A Con Ed employee was less definitive about the time; he predicted “hours, not days.”

One more wrinkle to add: I was in my kitchen a few minutes after the power went, a kitchen that was now unusually quiet. I started hearing an odd noise in the front room… it turned out I was hearing a beautiful cardinal chirping on the front porch; something I would never have heard on a normal day.

Did any of  you see anything this morning, or have to deal with this?