By Ben Fractenburg and Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Staff
MIDTOWN WEST — Several manhole explosions rocked a section of Broadway in front of a Midtown hotel and caused the evacuation of several buildings on the block Tuesday afternoon.
An electrical fire caused an underground explosion just after 4 p.m. in front of the Novotel Hotel entrance on Broadway near 52nd Street, the FDNY said.
The fire heated electrical lines feeding into the hotel’s cellar, causing an underground vault to catch fire, Deputy Chief Jay Jonas said at press briefing following the incident.
The burning flames caused a dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide that reached as high as the hotel’s seventh floor, forcing fire officials to evacuate all the buildings on the block, he explained.
Seven firefighters and one Con Edison worker suffered minor injuries primarily related to the buildup of carbon monoxide, Jonas added.
Firefighters doused the flames rising from manholes on the street and also worked inside the hotel, he said.
“It was like the movies,” said Charles Cin, co-manager of Paramount Electronics at Broadway just south of 52nd Street. “People were running panicked down Broadway.”
Cin said he saw Con Edison trucks working to connect utilities to a newly built newsstand at a nearby corner earlier that day.
"Con Edison was working and all of a sudden we saw an explosion," said Melissa Figueiredo, 31, of Brooklyn, who was one of dozens of people on line for a Thom Yorke concert at the Roseland Ballroom across from the hotel when it happened.
The fire caused three explosions at the same location, including one at 4:49 p.m. that shot part of the street about four feet into the air while firefighters were hosing down the manhole, according to witnesses.
"Smoke was coming out of the manhole cover and then flames," said Tim Bausch, 24, of Astoria, who said he was about 30 feet away from the manhole at the time of the first explosion.
A manager at the New York Sports Club located underneath the hotel said he was showing a potential customer around the gym when he heard two loud explosions around 5 p.m., causing the lights to flicker.
The employee, Tymel Brookins, 24, of Brooklyn, said he was evacuated from the building due to the rising carbon monoxide levels, and heard a third explosion from the block moments later. Standing on Broadway just south of 52nd Street, he said he peered around the corner and saw flames shooting out of a manhole followed by thick black smoke billowing from the street.
A firefighter on a stretcher was wheeled past Brookins with an oxygen mask to his face just before 6 p.m., he added.
“We were outside for 20 minutes breathing it in. It was nasty. All our eyes were red,” said Hannah Weidner, 19, who had traveled to Manhattan from just outside of Utica for the Thom Yorke concert.
Another witness, Scott Gordon, 35, of Inwood, said no one moved from outside the venue because they wanted to keep their spots on line.
The incident did frighten a pair of out-of-towners who were passing through the area when the explosions occurred.
"We're tourists. We're not used to this type of thing," said Hatice Turkmen, 39, from Denmark, who was visiting with her daughter.
"She screamed," Ozge Turkmen, 16, said about her mother.
The evacuated buildings included Gallagher’s Steak House and the August Wilson Theatre, where a Wednesday night performance of the musical “Jersey Boys” was cancelled because of the fire.
Firefighters blocked off Broadway to traffic from 53rd to 51st streets during the incident, and two Con Edison emergency trucks were parked at the hotel entrance near 52nd Street.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, the FDNY said.
