28 BUILDINGS EVACUATED IN NYC STEAM PIPE EXPLOSION
NEW YORK An aging steam pipe exploded beneath Fifth Avenue in Manhattan early Thursday, hurling chunks of asphalt, sending a geyser of white vapour 10 stories into the air and forcing the evacuation of 28 buildings.
Five people, including three civilians, suffered minor injuries from the 6:40 a.m. blast on 21st Street, and officials warned people who may have gotten material on them to bag their clothes and shower immediately as a precaution because of the possibility of cancer-causing asbestos.
“The big problem we have to consider is asbestos,” said Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito, who warned that if asbestos is confirmed at the scene, the cleanup could take days.
It was not immediately determined what caused the blast in the 50-centimetre pipe. No work was being done on the pipe at the time.
Daniel Lizio-Katzen, 42, was riding his bike home to the West Village when he saw the plume from the high-pressure steam explosion.
“It was a pretty violent explosion,” Lizio-Katzen told the Daily News. “The steam was shooting up into the air about 70 feet.”
Similar explosions over the year have drawn attention to the aging infrastructure beneath the streets of the largest city in the U.S. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the pipe that blew was installed in 1932.