TOLEDO, Ohio — It was a little before noon on Saturday at The Blarney Irish Pub and owner Ed Beczynski said the bar, and seemingly the entire downtown, was filled with a certain smell.
"In the area, a smell of electric, almost a smell of electric fire, and firefighters were called out and all of the sudden the manhole blew up," said Beczynski.
Fire crews stood by as smoke poured out from the grate with their thermometers showing readings of over 300 degrees. But the manhole cover wasn't the only exit the smoke wafted out of.
"All the smoke and electrical fire smell kind of got pushed into the basements of PizzaPapalis and the Blarney here," said one of the Blarney's managing partners, Bill Kline.
Smoke was also pouring out of the restaurant's pipes and first responders soon detected it contained dangerous doses of carbon monoxide.
"Firefighters came over and said, 'You can't open until we get this under control,'" said Beczynski.
This cut into their shift prep in the critical hours before Saturday dinner service.
"They kept testing it, the health department came out and tested it," said Beczynski. "Yeah, it was all afternoon."
By 4 p.m., the Blarney had the all-clear signal, but the restaurant wasn't ready for business. However, Beczynski said after the day they had, nothing was going to stop them.
"The servers, they just had to work real fast, we called in extra staff to come in, and we got them in," Beczynski.
Their doors were able to open just in time for the Walleye game dinner rush. Meanwhile, PizzaPapolis was less lucky and did not open its doors that day.
But could this all happen again? Beczynski said he was given no reassurances by Toledo Edison crews.
"They didn't say anything like that. Will it happen again? Who knows, I would imagine. I've seen fires in those manholes before," said Beczynski.
As have WTOL 11's cameras, recording incidents in 2019, 2016, and two in 2015. So whether or not this is the last time this will happen downtown remains unclear.
WTOL 11 reached out to a Toledo Edison spokesperson to get their take on the incident and received this statement:
We understand this incident may have caused concern for local residents. The underground fire was caused by an issue with an underground power line. The fire was quickly contained and isolated to ensure there are no long-term impacts to the surrounding community.
This isn't the first time Toledo Edison has had to take responsibility for these kinds of underground explosions either.
In both the 2015 and 2019 incidents, they admitted those were also caused by failing cables that caused a spark.
WTOL 11 spoke to crews today who said that the entire electrical line running down North Huron Street is being replaced, and there should be a whole new line by tomorrow.