Two explosions occurred Sunday morning on 78th between 1st and 2nd when a man in a Lexus Infiniti ran over Con Ed cones — the company has been working on 78th and 79th all morning –and parked his car on electrical wires running out of an open manhole, which resulted in explosion number one.
After a brief exchange between the guy who ran over the cones and Con Ed workers (there was a lot of “why the f*** did you do that!”) the gent jumped back in his car, started it, and another explosion, a small fire, and a small smoke mushroom occurred (picture below).
The fire went out quickly and the guy drove off. Currently the fire department, Con Ed and angry UESers are on 78th.
The electrical wires and cones the guy parked on were set up like the below, though this manhole is further down on 78th.
UPDATE (12:30 PM): The fire department has left, Con Ed has blocked off 78th and they’re working in the manhole where the explosions occurred.
UPDATE (3:00 PM): Con Ed appears to be done working in the manhole, 78th is back open to traffic and they’ve attempted to “idiot proof” the area with orange tape.
1 Comment
July 8, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Thats an Infiniti not a Lexus. But none the less the guy driving is an idiot. I hope they got his plate #.