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Underground fire in Flushing causes electrical outages

Underground fire 109th
Photo courtesy of the NYPD

Residents near Flushing’s Northern Boulevard suffered power outages Wednesday after a manhole fire on the thoroughfare spread underground causing damage to electrical transformers.

The one-alarm fire was ignited in a manhole and began at around 10:51 a.m., according to authorities.

The flames soon spread into the basement of a nearby supermarket, Hanyang Mart at 150-51 Northern Blvd.

According to Deputy Inspector Thomas Conforti, commanding officer of the 109th Precinct, the FDNY initially had some trouble putting out the fire because the supermarket’s electricity system was still online.

The blaze was under control by 12:25 p.m., and a total of 12 units of 60 firefighters were at the scene, according to the FDNY. There were no injuries.

The electrical power outages stemmed from damage to underground electrical transformers affected by the fire, police said.

Many buildings in the vicinity of Northern Boulevard from 150th to 153rd streets lost power for hours of the day, and police reported that they believed some buildings were still without electricity as of 8 p.m. that night.

Con Edison could not be immediately reached for comment.

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