Transformer explosion rocks landmark Manhattan building

An explosion in a transformer underneath a Manhattan sidewalk sent flames up the front of a landmark building Thursday, shattering windows and blackening the front of several stories. No injuries were reported.

Consolidated Edison spokesman Christopher Olert said the transformer was in a vault below the front of the seven-story building. An investigation was under way into the cause.

Deputy Fire Chief James Daly said firefighters were initially called out for a report of smoke coming out of a manhole.

He said firefighters had been out all night to deal with manhole fires because of runoff from snow and salt coming into contact with electrical grids below ground.

Carol Paplin, who works for an office furniture dealership on the sixth floor of the building on Sixth Avenue in the Chelsea district, said she detected a sulfur odor as she approached the building at 10:30 a.m., but as she got to the entrance the smell faded and she went inside.

Firefighters arrived at 10:44 a.m. to respond to the report of smoke and evacuated a Radio Shack store, Daly said.

The building is part of the Ladies' Mile Historic District, so named for the shops and stores that were along parts of Broadway toward the end of the 19th century. That area was given its designation in 1989.

The structure, known as the Simpson, Crawford and Simpson building, "is an incredibly important building historically and architecturally," said Elisabeth de Bourbon, spokeswoman for the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.- AP