Charlestown, MA – Seven people were evacuated from townhouses in Charlestown for about four hours Saturday morning after officials discovered a carbon monoxide leak caused by an underground electrical fire, Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
Firefighters cleared the scene at around 10 a.m. Saturday, but Eversource workers were still repairing the part of the underground cable that caused the leak just before 1 p.m., officials said.
EMS evaluated those evacuated at the scene and no injuries were reported, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
No one was back in the building yet when fire officials left the scene, he said.
Firefighters were called to 2 Bolton Place at about 6 a.m. after carbon monoxide alarms in the residence went off, MacDonald said.
When their meters read elevated levels of carbon monoxide, firefighters evacuated the seven people in the four affected townhouses immediately, and called utility companies, including Eversource, to the scene, according to the fire spokesman.
When we arrived, we found that one of our underground electric cables had failed, Eversource spokeman Michael Durand said. The cable itself had smoldered underground and carbon monoxide from that found its way into one of the houses on the street.
Eversource workers had to dig up the street and cut power to part of the cable to make repairs, which also cut power to 10 homes on Bolton Place.
Durand said power was restored to the homes by 2:30 p.m. but the crew was still doing repairs as of Saturday evening, Durand said.