By Jeff Mays and Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Staff
EAST HARLEM —Firefighters shut down parts of Park Avenue and relocated members of a center for disabled adults Monday morning when two maholes caught on fire, officials said.
Roughly 100 people from the Shield Institute on 104 E. 107th were routed to Terrance Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center on 106th and Fifth Avenue after the fire broke just after 7 a.m. They were expected to remain there the rest of the day, fire officials said.
Park Avenue going southbound was shut down from 106th Street to 109th Street and 107th Street was shut down from Lexington to Park avenues as firefighters battled the blaze.
"The firefighters came in and told us we couldn't stay here," said Sandra Grant, the assistant manager for the Shield Institute.
Although the power didn't go out at either the Shield Institute or nearby residences, fire officials decided to redirect members of the Shield Institute as a safety precaution, the FDNY said.
The manholes most likely caught fire when water from melting snow and road salt seeped into them and sparked on electrical wires, fire officials said.
There were no injuries reported, and the fire was put under control just after 10 a.m., according to the FDNY.
Con Edison remained on the scene after 10 a.m. to investigate the manholes. An acrid smell remained in the air.
"My lights were flickering on and off and my computer went off and I didn't know what was happening," said East Harlem resident Madeleine Spinner, whose neice attends the Shield Institute.
