Jason Kobely
News10/KXTV
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:48 UTC
SACRAMENTO - Authorities closed off the street and called for evacuations near the UC Davis Medical Center late Wednesday after an underground explosion and electrical fire, Sacramento police officials said.
Stockton Boulevard between 34th and 39 streets was closed after the incident was reported around 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, according to Sacramento Fire officials.
Two people suffered minor injuries after the explosion blew a manhole cover into the air, hitting a pickup truck. Moments later, a similar shower of sparks, followed by another explosion from underground was captured on tape by News10 photojournalist Andy Martinez.
Power was out in portions of the neighborhood surrounding the Medical Center and some nearby homes and businesses were evacuated as a precaution. A SMUD spokesperson said power was disrupted to 632 customers due to the incident.
Sacramento police and fire personnel said crews were letting the fire burn itself out before attempting to reassess the damage. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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Talk about a small world. We drove through the area that was closed 3 hours before this happened. That is something to think about. The explosion was caused by an electrical fire in an underground vault. SMUD (the electric utility) said the event was "not common but not unusual." Really?
I think it is interesting that people design and build these complex systems like the electrical grid, and then when something like this goes wrong, nobody at first has any idea what they may be up against (hence the evacuation). We create it, but we're never entirely sure what we have created.