Transformer Explosion on West 17th Street Between Fifth and Sixth Avenue [photos]

Firefighters extinguish an underground fire at 17th Street and Sixth Avenue

Around 2:30pm on March 26th, the buildings around the intersection of 17th Street at Sixth Avenue were rocked by an underground transformer explosion.

At the scene, firefighters had worked to knock down a fire that belched black smoke out of a manhole (photos at DNAinfo). The fire held steady, with only a bit of smoke and an electrical burning smell coming from that manhole:

But the fire flared up again when there was a popping noise and the smoke began pouring out again:

Originally, the reports of the explosion mentioned 55 West 17th as the location of the fire (the gray doorway below), but, despite the original reports, no shattered or broken windows were seen along the street.

ConEd crews working in front of 55 West 17th

Emergency crews were also seen on West 15th Street, where a small amount of smoke was coming out of a ConEd manhole in front of 20 West 15th Street.

The NYC Office of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross were also on scene all afternoon to provide assistance.