September 28, 2018
A manhole at 207th and Cooper briefly erupted in flames before loudly blasting its cover several feet into the air on Friday evening. One witness told the Gazette, “I was in the bodega and I came outside to spit. Tobacco, you know. And I look over and there’s flames coming out of the manhole. I said, ‘man, this doesn’t look good!’ and grabbed a couple of the guys to pull them inside. That’s when it blew. The cover flew up a couple of feet and then came back down and landed back on the manhole.”
The manhole explosion was heard throughout the neighborhood and dozens of residents gathered and watched as several fire engines and police cars arrived. Firemen cordoned off the manhole with yellow police tape. Another witness told the Gazette she had just walked by there with a friend and they just missed getting hit. She recalled seeing a blue and orange fireball at the time of the blast. According to several witnesses there were no injuries.
