July 19 -- A steam pipe explosion Thursday morning sent smoke billowing into the air on Fifth Avenue, forced evacuations at more than two dozen buildings and injured five people, fire officials said.
The 86-year-old pipe broke at about 6:40 a.m. on Fifth Avenue, between 20th and 21st streets, officials said. Five people, including a police officer and a Con Edison worker had minor injuries, but none were taken to the hospital, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
The age of the main sparked concerns about asbestos contamination. The Department of Environmental Protection was conducting tests, and decontamination tents were set up at 22nd Street and Broadway and 19th Street and Broadway for anyone who was exposed to the steam to be evaluated, Nigro said.
“As a precaution, anyone in the vicinity of the rupture who was covered in material is advised to bag their clothing and shower,” Con Edison said on Twitter.
About 100 FDNY members were being decontaminated, Nigro said, and officials going toward the area of the explosion are wearing white masks as a precaution.
A total of 28 buildings were evacuated and considered to be in the “hot zone.” Many of them had air conditioning and hot water shut off, Con Edison said. The explosion also caused disruptions to a gas line, a water main and some electrical power, officials said.
If tests for asbestos come back positive, the buildings will need to be decontaminated, which could take at least a few days, Joesph Esposito, commissioner of the Emergency Management Department, said.
Thomas Spedalere, 42, was walking on 20th Street when he “came upon a shooting jet of steam.”
“It was spraying very intensely,” he said. “A lot of grit and dirt came up. It got into my sunglasses, my clothes and my hat. I washed off my arms as much as I could.”
He said he was told to wash his clothes and his face.
“The smell of that steam bugged me out a little. Reminded of 9/11, the pervasive smell of steam,” he added.
Rachel Glasser, 19, who lives in a building near the explosion, said her mom woke her up “in a frazzled state” Thursday morning, telling her they needed to evacuate.
“There were loud noises, like really loud construction that wasn’t ending,” she said. “We could see the explosion from our windows. My mom told me ‘pack everything you need.’”
Glasser packed her laptop, chargers and contacts.
“At first, I wasn’t scared. But when my mom told me to pack stuff, I started freaking out,” she said, sitting with her grandparents in a plaza at 23rd Street and Broadway at about 10 a.m. She had been out of the building since 7 a.m.
Others, like 23-year-old Bethy Solomon, of East Harlem, were met by police officers as they tried to get into their offices.
“Nobody could get through,” she said. “The cops warned us if you have an office on Fifth Avenue, you’re not working ... I was very confused. Everybody else was on their way and I didn’t know what to do and where to go.”
Tatiana DeOliveira, 23, who works at a coffee cart on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, arrived at about 6:50 a.m., right around the time cops started showing up, she said.
“For an hour and a half, it was really intense steam coming out. It was really insane,” she said. “Then the helicopters started showing up. There were hundreds of people and cops and firefighters.”
“I’m not going to lie it’s been good for business,” she added.
Fifth Avenue was closed between 19th and 23rd streets as a result of the explosion. The cross streets also were closed between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
R and W trains were skipping 23rd Street, the MTA said.
Seven years prior to Thursday’s pipe burst, a similar explosion happened in midtown, killing one person and injuring 30 others, according to a New York Times report at the time.
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