On July 12, at around 17:50 hours, the Boston Fire Department, Boston Emergency Medical Services, and Boston Police Department responded to reports of numerous manhole explosions in the area of the West End.
One call came in for a fire in a manhole with multiple workers injured and possibly still stuck on Bowdoin Street. Responders quickly arrived and found two workers who had self extricated themselves. One of the workers had serious, heavy burns to over 80% of his body and can be seen in the video being tended to by EMS.
The other worker only suffered minor injuries. Due to the seriousness of the workers injuries, Boston Police brought in special investigators and the crime scene response unit to further assist in their investigation. At this time no further information is available and the cause of the explosions remains under investigation.
Eversource said a crew was performing routine maintenance on a piece of underground equipment in the area at the time. The extent of the workers’ injuries is unknown. Eversource is working to determine exactly what happened. OSHA is also investigating the incident.
“There was some malfunction with the mechanical equipment that caused the explosion,” said Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Burke. “They’re very skilled workers, they know what they’re doing.”
