Man hit in head by manhole cover as explosion injures two along Park Slope street
The fire and a massive boom were reported around 11:20 a.m. Monday near Fourth St. and Prospect Park West. The man had his head bandaged by responding firefighters, while a 93-year-old neighbor was cut across her forehead when the explosion shattered a window.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Monday, February 2, 2015, 12:29 PM
Updated: Monday, February 2, 2015, 9:23 PM
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A man is “lucky to be alive” after he was smashed in the head by a flying manhole cover Monday morning, sending his startled dog running off after a subterranean explosion near Prospect Park, officials and witnesses said.
An elderly woman inside her apartment and the man walking his dog were the only two injured people reported when fiery geysers erupted from two manholes on Prospect Park West around 11:20 a.m.
Sal Grillo, 71, was strolling with his black Labrador retriever, Abby, when the 70-pound cover flew 50 feet into the air and clobbered him in the head, an eyewitness named Bill told the Daily News.
"I was shocked because the explosion knocked me backwards," said Bill, who was shoveling his sidewalk when the blast happened. "It was an electric cable under the street and the smoke built up the pressure. I was shocked from that. I told the firefighters the man got hit. He was on the floor. I didn't see his dog."
The frightened pooch scampered off into the park while Grillo had his head bandaged by firefighters on scene.
Firefighters were already checking out a smoldering manhole cover at Fourth St. and Prospect Park West in Park Slope when the cover blew a block away at Fifth St.
"It went 50 feet in the air and hit a civilian in the head," said FDNY Battalion Chief Steve Corcoran, who witnessed the blast. "It came without warning," he said, adding he had no time to shout a warning.
He said Grillo, who lives in the neighborhood, apparently didn't see the iron cover raining down.
"He's lucky to be alive," said Deputy Chief Patrick Clifford.
Clifford said it appeared Grillo was fortunate to have suffered a “glancing blow” from the manhole cover as opposed to a potentially lethal direct hit to the head.
Grillo, dressed in street clothes, was knocked out when Corcoran and his crew got to him. He was semiconscious when an ambulance took him to nearby Lutheran Medical Center.
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Reached at the emergency room at Lutheran, a relative told The News Grillo’s injuries were “serious” but he’s expected to recover.
Grillo's dog was found about an hour after the blast and taken to a pharmacy at Church Ave. and Ocean Parkway. Sean Casey, who runs an animal rescue operation in Brooklyn, fetched Abby up and returned the pooch to Grillo's wife.
"She was shaking and her paws were bleeding," Casey said of the dog.
Casey said he tracked down the Grillo family through microchip implanted in Abby.
The 11:30 a.m. explosion was so powerful it shattered windows along the Prospect Park street, just blocks from Sen. Chuck Schumer's apartment.
Marge Contorno, 93, was injured inside her third-floor apartment at Fifth St. and Prospect Park West when her window was shattered and she was cut by flying glass.
"We've been to a hundred of these today and this is the only one that lifted the lid," Clifford said.
Con Edison workers, along with 65 firefighters and 12 FDNY units, secured the area, cutting off gas and electricity, after the explosion rattled buildings throughout Park Slope.
“I work from home and at first it sounded like construction, it sounded like a crane fell,” said Sona Rai, who lives near the scene. “Then it shook the building. It shook my body from where I’m sitting. It was very sudden and it was very loud and it was just once, then you heard the fire trucks. It was just so loud.”
The boom was heard nearly half a mile south of the scene, according to a witness.
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“There was a huge kaboom, explosion. I was like four blocks down, it was really loud,” Jenna Stern said. “It was loud enough for my friend … to feel it over on 12th St. and 7th Ave.”
A Con Edison spokesman said the fire was electrical and likely sparked by melting snow and street salt seeping into the underground electrical system.
"It's not a good combination," Sidney Alvarez said.
He said vibrations from everyday traffic likely eroded the electrical wire insulation, causing cracks where melting snow and salt could seep in and cause the line to smolder and even flame up. Left unchecked, pressure from the smoke and heat build to the point the vented manhole covers can blow, he said.
“Those manhole covers are extremely heavy and it requires a lot of pressure to make that happen,” Alvarez said.
“I think the big message here is if we can get some assistance from the general public to let us know if they see something or hear something,” said Alvarez, adding that smoke billowing from manhole vents or the sound of wires crackling are indications of problems below.
Anyone wanting to report potential problems can call 1-800-75-CONED.
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If this guy got hit in the head by a flying manhole cover, he's lucky to e alive and lucky not to e seriously injured and disabled for life.
The dog! Whatever became of the dog?!?!?
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