Transformer Explodes under NYC Building

A Manhattan building sustained serious damage after an underground transformer exploded below the structure Thursday, CBS station WCBS-TV reports.

No injuries had been reported and the building, located on 19th Street and Sixth Avenue, was evacuated after the explosion.

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.

Carol Paplin, who works for an office furniture dealership on the sixth floor of the building 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.

About half an hour later, building workers were told via the public address system that there was a fire on the sidewalk but not to be alarmed.

"Then, as I walked through the office, an orange fireball went up at our window," Paplin said. At that moment, another announcement instructed those in the building to evacuate using a back staircase.

"It was one of the most frightening things I've ever seen," Scott Rothman, a witness, told WCBS. "I did notice the fire trucks gathering on Sixth Avenue many minutes before it happened. I turned away for a moment and felt a huge burst of heat, that's how sudden and hot it was. It looked like the apocalypse for a second, but it subsided very quickly. I think I let out a shriek."

The front door of a Radio Shack electronics store was blown out by the force of the explosion. Other businesses in the building include a gym and a stationery store. The building also houses a technical school on the opposite end from where the damage occurred.

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.