Pocono News Section

Underground Fire Causes Power Problems

Underground Fire Causes Power Problems - Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 9:32PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Saturday, Oct 27, 2007 @09:32pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY - Smoke and flames were shooting from the ground in one part of Wilkes-Barre Saturday morning.

An underground electrical fire started just before 10:00 AM on South Market Street. The blaze knocked out power to a majority of downtown homes and businesses, but for many people it was quickly restored. Investigators think the fire started when an underground cable failed.

"The first thing we saw was all the power went out in the all the buildings around and then a few minutes later, the manhole cover blew off and fire was shooting three or four feet out of the ground," witness Sean Zingale said.

People who live on part of South Main Street are still without power because of the fire, which also caused a scare at the Luzerne Bank Building. A man was stuck in an elevator, but he was rescued a short time later.