Manhole fire in New York

Manhole fire in New York

www.huffingtonpost.com

At about 4:30 pm a transformer fire burnt three 13,000 volt cables, causing a three-alarm fire. Over a 130 firefighters rushed to the scene to put out the flames.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.nytimes.com
www .nydailynews.com
[url=http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/116491/several-theater-district-buildings-evacuated-due-to-manhole-fire]www.ny1.com[/ur l]

There is not much conspiracy about this happening, but still kind of weird. Even though they say that the fire started from transformer, there is a possibility that the cause was underground explosions.
It is probably just too much fantasizing from me, cause it doesn't sound very plausible to me either.

www.huffingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

What i'm interested in is CO build up. It is not unusual, cause carbon monoxide can migrate through soil and build up in confined spaces.

I felt this interesting - report on 'Carbon Monoxide Poisoning after the use of Explosives in a Sewer Construction Project'
link

An investigation determined that carbon monoxide released from the explosion had migrated through the soil into the manhole. CO concentrations in the bottom of the manhole 2 days after the incident were 1,905 parts per million (ppm), well above the immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) concentration of 1,200 ppm.

Well i just wonder what if there is some kind of construction going on, which caused this CO build up and fire as well. Similar accident happened in March this year

Explosions on the Upper West Side
Latter article says CO conentration of 10 ppm being lethal, but alarms in the houses go off at more than 30 ppm (that's probably writers mistake)

There was another accident in march this time in Malasia, where 6 people died in a newly build water treatment plant. Newly built underground space where CO build up.
link

This can simply be that my imagination is running wild, and its simply diffusion through soil that results in high CO levels in manholes, but anyway.

[edit on 7-4-2010 by silencee]