An underground electrical explosion behind city hall Friday morning is under investigation by WMECO officials.
Springfield firefighters lift four metal grates that were emitting smoke in the aftermath of an underground electrical explosion early Friday morning. SPRINGFIELD - Western Massachusetts Electric Company employees were sent to the area on Pynchon Street behind Springfield City Hall Friday morning after an apparent underground electrical explosion.
Just after 4 a.m., an officer reported seeing black smoke coming from a manhole cover near city hall and fire fighters were called to investigate. As he awaited their arrival, he reported that he could hear explosions underneath him.
WMECO employees arrived at 4:45 a.m. and began their investigation.
No injuries or damage to city hall was reported as of early Friday morning.
This incident is the latest among several electrical fires and explosions reported in downtown Springfield over the past six months.
The most notable underground electrical fire happened on Dec. 13 and caused a fire at the historic Elijah Blake House at the Springfield Museums.
At about 5:48 a.m. that day, firefighters were sent to investigate a reported manhole explosion on Mattoon Street.
A few minutes later, a fire in an electrical panel was reported at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. That fire put itself out quickly but just before 6:30 a.m. firefighters noticed flames coming from a manhole cover near the Elijah Blake House and then inside the 161-year-old building.
A Springfield firefighter suffered minor burns to his face while fighting the blaze, but crews were able to save the building and no damage was reported to any artifacts within the Springfield Museums.
At the time of the incident, Dennis Leger, public information officer with the city fire department, said investigators with the Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad believed the flames traveled from a conduit in the Edwards Street manhole to a control box in the basement of the Blake House, causing an estimated $80,000 in damage.
12/13/10 Springfield - Springfield Fire Department Photo by Dennis Leger- Fire fighters work on a fire at the Elijah Blake House on the grounds of the quadrangle early Monday morning. A WMECO spokesperson recently told MassLive.com that the internal investigation into the situation is "still continuing."
"We know it's a cable fault but the investigation is not completed," said Sandra Ahearn, WMECO spokesperson. "Many cases are the result of a cable fault of some kind."
In response to similar electrical fires on Taylor and Lyman streets reported in early March, Ahearn said that the investigations were ongoing.
"The oldest parts of the underground systems (in Springfield) are about 40 years old," she said. "When we start to see reliability issues in a certain area, that part of the system is considered for replacement."