San Francisco Manhole Blows Smoke

Updated 1:53 PM PST, Mon, Jul 6, 2009

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Firefighters responded to reports of an explosiong at a manhole at Fourth and Market streets in San Francisco Monday morning, a fire dispatcher said.

There was smoke reported coming from the manhole at around 10:45 a.m. following the explosion, the dispatcher said. SF Gate reported that the explosion happened at the same time a nearby Ross department store lost all power.

Two dozen employees and shoppers were evacuated from the store and Fourth Street, between Mission and Market streets, was shut down. Nobody was injured.

Black smoke was rising from a manhole when crews arrived, Talmadge said.

"There was quite a bit initially," she said.

She added, however, that there was significantly less smoke than what poured from another manhole during an underground fire at Polk and O'Farrell streets in early June.

Crews extinguished the flames using C02, Talmadge said. No injuries were reported.

Further details were not immediately available but witnesses on the scene said they heard an underground transformer had exploded and caught fire. Several fire crews were at the scene, according to Spokeswoman Lt. Mindy Talmadge.