July 29, 2004
By DEEDEE CORRELL - THE GAZETTE
A series of explosions rocked a central Colorado Springs neighborhood, shooting manhole covers 50 feet into the air and frightening residents who also had a scare last week.
No one was injured Thursday, but about 40 people were evacuated from their homes on Sunflower Road, north of the intersection of Cascade Avenue and Fillmore Street.
Authorities are investigating whether the culprit was a buildup of methane gas in the sewer system. A large gas main runs through the area, and officials also are looking into whether that main had leaked to cause the explosions.
No natural gas or methane had been detected as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Colorado Springs fire Lt. Brian Keys said.
“We’re trying to rule out the obvious causes,” he said, adding they also will look into whether chemicals were dumped in the drain. It wasn’t clear Thursday night whether the system was for sewer or storm-water drainage.
The first explosion came about 8 p.m. on Sunflower Road, firing a 100-pound manhole cover about 50 feet into the air.
“The whole house shook,” resident Angela Cisneros said. “It sounded like a bomb. It was horrible. I thank God she (my daughter) wasn’t riding her bike.”
“Them manholes are heavy. It takes two men to pick them up,” said her boyfriend, Benjo Colangelo.
The first explosion was quickly followed by three more, and more police and firefighters raced to the scene.
“We have no idea what we’re dealing with at this time,” a dispatcher said in radio transmissions.
As police went door to door, asking residents to leave, Colangelo grabbed a shoe box and packed up his Chihuahua, Ginger, and her week-old puppy.
“Everything else is replaceable,” he said as he sat in the parking lot of a Kmart store about a mile away, where police asked residents to wait while they investigated.
The neighborhood is the same one where authorities spent hours one week ago dealing with a large chemical spill at an empty metal refinishing business.
An 800-gallon tank of hydrochloric acid spilled July 22. Firefighters also detected traces of cyanide, which when combined with the acid can create hydrogen cyanide, a deadly gas.
It was not known whether last week’s incident was connected to the incident Thursday night, but Keys said firefighters don’t think the chemical spill could have drained into the affected system.
By 10:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities were still preventing Sunflower Road residents from returning home but were allowing residents of nearby mobile home parks to walk back to their houses.
As a precaution, Colorado Springs Utilities shut off gas service to homes on Sunflower.
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