DOWNTOWN EXPLOSION
Underground fire, black smoke shut down business district, residents evacuated
POTTSTOWN » An underground transformer exploded in downtown Pottstown early Friday morning sending fire beneath three blocks of High Street and black smoke billowing throughout the area.
There were no injuries reported.
Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand said the call came in about 3:30 a.m. The explosion happened, as it has before, at the busy corner of High and Hanover streets “and it just escalated down the street.”
Hand said “PECO had to shut off the power and then we flooded it,” to extinguish the flames, which extended east down High Street from Hanover to Charlotte streets.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, said PECO spokeswoman Kristina Pappas.
On the northwest corner of the intersection, blackened concrete lay scattered next to a hole blown in the ground. A shattered tree branch lay alongside and an iron manhole cover, apparently blown out of its setting, lay near the blackened iron rim of manhole it once covered.
A PECO worker inspected the damage and urged a reporter to take a few steps back.
Windows on the second floor of the BB&T Bank building facing Buttonwood Alley between High and King streets were shattered and glass was scattered across the alley. Also shattered were the front display windows of the historic building at 17 N. Hanover St.
High Street and North and South Hanover streets were closed off to traffic and emergency vehicles from throughout the region filled the streets instead.
Hand, descending from a mobile emergency command center provided by Montgomery County, said firefighters went from building to building in the early-morning darkness to rouse the residents of the upper-floor apartments, evacuating them as a precaution because of the danger posed by carbon monoxide gas seeping up from the underground fire.
Ismael DiNarte, who lives at 221 E. High St., said he heard the explosion at 3:30 a.m.
“It didn’t sound like a car crash or anything, it definitely sounded like an explosion.”
The building is owned by the Somboonsong family and Pearl Somboonsong was on hand to check on the property and tenants. The family also owns Pottstown’s Blue Elephant restaurant, located in the landmark former bank building across the street from the site of the explosion.
She reported that the restaurant was not damaged. PECO’S Pappas said as of 12:30 p.m., 115 customers were without power.
All Pottstown Area Rapid Transit bus service was suspended given that the hub for the entire system is at the transportation center adjacent to High and Hanover streets.
The borough also issued a “shelter-in-place” notice and urged residents and motorists to keep clear of the area. That order was lifted at 5 p.m., although motorists were still advised to avoid the area due to road closures.
Hand said the incident required the response of more than 40 volunteers on location. As noon approached Friday, Hand said he had no estimate as to when the repairs would be made and the buildings reopened.
Hand said the volunteers, who by then had worked the equivalent of an eight-hour shift without pay, would be sent home at noon and replaced with another set from throughout the region.
“You really see the benefits we enjoy from those volunteers when something like this happens,” Hand said.