NY Daily News – February 03, 2015
by Reuven Blau, Caitlin Nolan, Bill Hutchinson, Sasha Goldstein
A man is “lucky to be alive” after he was smashed in the head by a flying manhole cover Monday morning, sending his dog running off after a subterranean explosion near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, officials and witnesses said. An elderly woman inside her apartment and the man walking his dog were the only injuries reported when smoke and a fiery geyser erupted from a manhole on Prospect Park West in Park Slope around 11:20 a.m.
Sal Grillo, 71, was strolling with his Labrador retriever, Abby, when the 70-pound cover flew 50 feet in the air and hit him in the head, an eyewitness named Bill told the Daily News.
“I was shocked because the explosion knocked me backward,” 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 the scene.
Firefighters were already checking out a smoldering manhole at Fourth St. and Prospect Park West 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, 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 instead of a potentially lethal direct hit to the head.
Grillo was unconscious when Corcoran and his crew got to him. He was semiconscious when an ambulance took him to Lutheran Medical Center.
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 and returned her 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 a microchip implanted in Abby.
The powerful explosion shattered windows along the Park Slope 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, quickly secured the area, cutting off gas and electricity after the explosion rattled buildings throughout Park Slope.
Con Edison spokesman Sidney Alvarez said the fire was electrical and likely sparked by melting snow and street salt seeping into the electrical system.
“It’s not a good combination,” 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.
He said smoke billowing from manhole vents or the sound of wires crackling are indications of problems below.
Anyone wanting to report a potential problem can call (800) 75-CONED.
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