Jul 15, 2008 12:48 pm US/Eastern
Parts Of Charles St. Closed After Underground Fire
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Two manholes billow with smoke after the start of an underground fire.
Charles Street between Mulberry and Saratoga Streets remains shut down after an underground fire.
Captain Mike Perry has the latest efforts to put out the flames.
The fire started just around 5 p.m. Monday. The fire is finally under control as crews continue to work on what's being called an electrical fire.
The underground electrical fire burned for hours. Bursts of black smoke clogged the air.
"I just smelled a lot of something, and the lights kept flickering. And finally I kept losing power, and I was going to meet a friend. And she kept saying, 'look outside your window,' and there's nothing but fire trucks," said one city resident.
"Burnt rubber all over the street. It's all in the air, it's all through our apartment and everything. Yeah, it's not nice. It's not good," said another resident.
"We don't know if it's some type of a power surge or something else that may have caused it," said Chief Kevin Cartwright with Baltimore City Fire.
Officials ruled out natural gas, and getting to the source was difficult.
BGE requested blueprints to track down where the fire came from and where it was going to.
Baltimore County Fire brought in its Cardox Unit to put carbon dioxide directly into the manhole to try to suffocate the fire. Meantime, BGE workers went underground to assess the damage.
Power outages will be from the south on Baltimore Street, north to Monument Street and to the west on Green Street for about three-and-a- half hours.
One woman suffered minor injuries after a manhole cover blew and hit her.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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