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Con-Ed Blows Off Some SteamEarly Friday morning June 28, 1996, the residents of the upper east side of Manhattan were awakened by an explosion at the Consolidated Edison steam generating plant at 505 East 75 Street. The 10 story brick building measuring 250 x 250 houses three 80 feet tall steam generators. Engine 44 (quartered 3 blocks away) arrived within 2 minutes and after a quick evaluation ordered the response of the Haz-Mat unit due to the incident taking place in an asbestos containment area. As a precaution, all civilians within 1 square block were evacuated from their homes and workplaces. The initial fear was that there might have been asbestos escaping into the air. The NYC Department of Environmental Protection, along with our own Haz Mat unit, took air samples and specimens. A fruit stand on the corner of York Ave and E 75 St had all of their produce confiscated for consumer safety. A Con-Ed spokesperson stated that it was more cost-effective to reimburse the proprietor for the goods rather than to decontaminate it. The fire fighting effort was hampered by the escaping steam. It took Con-Ed over an hour to safely shut down the plant. Also, the perceived threat of asbestos contamination mandated that all necessary precautions be taken. The incident was declared under control at 0900 hours, but operations continued well into the late afternoon. The Manhattan dispatchers set up an apparatus staging area at the quarters of engine 35 at East 124 Street and 3rd Avenue. When relief units were needed, they were dispatched from this location. The outer boroughs supplied Manhattan with units to re-supply engine 35. This procedure allowed Manhattan to keep neighborhood fire protection at a safe level while still being able to respond to the demand for relief units at the fire. By mid-afternoon the air samples and debris specimens had shown that no asbestos escaped from the building. To be on the safe side, 175 fire fighters and 12 Con- Ed workers were decontaminated using the showers from the Decontamination Unit quartered with ladder 15. 66 - 55- 1046
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