By Jennifer Glickel and Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — A fire in a Con Edison substation forced authorities to evacuate a Midtown subway station Friday, interrrupting service on the B, D, F and V lines.
A fire department spokesman said the subway station, at Seventh Avenue and W. 53rd Street, was evacuated as a precaution. There are no reported injuries, and there is no trace of carbon monoxide in the station, he said.
The fire, first reported at 11:16 a.m., drew about 60 firefighters to the scene, the spokesman said.
From the street, the only evidence was thick, gray smoke billowing from a manhole cover on W. 53rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Transit officials were descending into the substation, and paramedics waited down the block.
The station serves the B, D subway lines but service was disrupted on the B, D, F and V lines.
It is too early to tell how the fire started, the spokesman said.
A firefighter at the scene said it smelled like an electrical fire, and that firefighteres were letting it "burn out."
By 12:45 p.m., the entrances to the subway were open, and passengers were not being turned away.
By 1:35 p.m., the MTA sent an e-mail alert to riders that service had resumed.
