More than 1,500 people were evacuated from a Midtown office complex today after an underground transformer caught fire and sent smoke billowing through the building, officials said.
The fire under a manhole cover on Broadway between W. 36th and W. 37th streets broke out around 9:30 am, and was brought under control about two hours later.
Workers were cleared out of the 22-story building, at 1359 Broadway, but some were allowed back in later to retrieve personal items.
There were no reported injuries.
“I saw smoke coming out of the front of the building and it smelled like burning tires,” said Jennie Thompson, who works at LF USA on the 16th floor.
We all got pretty dizzy walking down all those flights of stairs,” said Alex Enderle, 23, who works at LF USA. “A couple of pregnant women were with us too and I could tell they were having a hard time.”
Con-Edison workers and fire department officials said the one of the building’s four transformer caught on fire because of garbage and debris.
They said the building was evacuated because of a loss of power.
Con-Ed brought in two back-up generators with plans to reopen the building when they are online.