Warren manhole pops its lid

WARREN — A worker in front of First Place Bank got a scare this afternoon when a manhole cover on the north side of East Market Street blew into the air and fire shot out of the hole.

“I heard a real loud boom, I looked behind me and I saw flames before I saw the thing [manhole cover] coming back down,” said Josh Knapp, who was working for Records Systems of Boardman.

“That had to be a gas leak or something. It was loud. It’s the first time I’ve seen that,” he said, adding that it shocked him.

He and others pushed the cover back over the hole because the manhole is about 2 feet across and could have damaged someone’s car if the lid were not back on.

A secretary at the Warren Water Pollution Control Department said she was unaware of the 1 p.m. explosion but that workers would be checking into it.