Burnt-Out Cables Cause Smoky Fire and Brief Outages on 79th Street

Thanks to Richard for the photo.

Cables burning underground caused a smoky fire on Sunday on 79th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, and caused some customers on the block to partially lose power, according to a Con Edison spokesman.

Con Edison was still working on fixing the cable as of Sunday night, and installed an above-ground cable to restore power to customers. The fire started around 11 a.m., according to Con Ed. No one was reported injured, according to FDNY, and the fire was out by 1 p.m., according to a spokesman. It’s not clear why the cables burned, though that can be caused by various issues, including nicks in the cable or salt.

Thanks to Danielle for the photos.