Such a beautiful day; I decided to get some fresh air and an iced coffee. I was walking down the street and all of a sudden I hear a loud “boom” followed by flames and smoke shooting out of the manhole behind me.
The firemen were already at the scene when the second manhole blew several stories into the air, followed by a third explosion of 10 feet of flames from the manhole we were standing ten feet away from. Sorry I didn’t get a photo of either of these things, I was busy running and looking for something to hide under.
Kruger
3 months ago
Dude, it was so insane. I’m happy we survived and that you got photos and could blog it. Why are we still in this office when the block is exploding?
Anna
3 months ago
That was pretty gnarly. Great shots, Matt. I really like the first one with the walking foot in the frame.
Jill
3 months ago
Crazy shots, Matt! Thanks for sharing. It’s kind of amazing how quickly DUMBO news gets out on the web — the upside of being a (nearly) digital district, I suppose. Already there are posts on Brownstoner, Gothamist, the L Magazine, and more.
Suffice it to say, I think we’ve got this nabe in news lockdown. :)
Tweets that mention fire & explosions in DUMBO // for the LOVE of BROOKLYN -- Topsy.com
3 months ago
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by krugerlive and Jill Harrison, krugerlive. krugerlive said: Matt threw up a nice blog post about the DUMBO explosions: http://fortheloveofbrooklyn.com/archives/2010/05/fire-explosions-in-dumbo.html [...]
Matt
3 months ago
Lessons learned from this experience:
1- If there is smoke and fire coming from underground, don’t stand anywhere near a manhole cover.
2- Don’t stand any closer to fire and smoke than the firmen are standing. If they are 15 feet back, you should probably follow their lead.
3- Find a safe spot to hide and take photos if you want to get the money shot. You don’t want to be busy running for your life when the time comes.
Barry
3 months ago
ha, good lessons…and great shots Matt
Lucy
3 months ago
Whoa! Glad you’re ok, but also it was great that you were on the scene with a camera at hand
Bill
3 months ago
WoW! Nobody was hurt? I’m always a little suspicious of manhole covers :) Great shots, Matt!