Buildings Reopen As Steam Pipe Explosion Cleanup Continues

CHELSEA, NY — The city has cleaned and reopened nearly a dozen buildings sprayed with asbestos during last Thursday's stream pipe explosion in the Flatiron District.

Officials deemed nine buildings safe for occupancy over the weekend as the city and Con Edison continued to remediate the 44 buildings within the explosion's "hot zone" after the steam pipe rupture on Fifth Avenue and 21st Street sent scalding steam laced with asbestos billowing across the neighborhood.

Hundreds of workers toiled around the clock to power wash building facades of the cancer-causing toxin over the weekend. Sand bags trapped the run off of water containing asbestos, which was filtered before being funneled into storm drains, a Con Edison official said.

"We’ve been working to clean the streets, sidewalks and building exteriors to shrink the hot zone and get people back into their homes as quickly as we can,” said Con Edison spokesman Alfonso Quiroz.

Each building facade must be re-inspected and then signed off on by the city Department of Environmental Protection. Next the city's Department of Health and the environmental protection department will preform tests and visual checks on the building's interiors — by appointment only — to see if additional cleanings are needed before buildings are reopened, according to the city's Office of Emergency Management.

"It's going to depend on whether they find internal contamination or not at each specific building," said Nancy Silvestri, a spokeswoman with the Office of Emergency Management.

The Thursday blast forced 49 buildings to evacuate with 44 of them within what the city deemed a hot zone, from 21st to 19th streets between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, for asbestos contamination. By Monday the hot zone had shrunk with 18th, 19th and 22nd streets opening to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Fifth Avenue between 20th and 21st streets remains closed. MTA buses are the exception and are rolling through the stretch of Fifth Avenue, but are bypassing stops between 18th and 23rd streets along Fifth Avenue.

More than 130 firefighters and 33 firetrucks responded to the explosion that displaced some 500 people from their homes Thursday and shuttered several businesses. Residents were left scrambling to find temporary housing and retrieve their crucial belongings, such as pets and medication.

The city opened an information center at The Clinton School at 10 East 15th Street for residents where Con Edison and city workers are on standby to aid those who live and work in the area.

Con Edison offered $500 checks to help displaced residents meet their immediate needs, but Quiroz said there is "no cap" on the amount that tenants can file a claim for with the utility company. A claim can be filed at The Clinton School.

Building owners and managers must set up inspection appointments in person at the assistance center. There will also be two public briefings at the Clinton School Monday, one at 5:30 p.m. for business and building owners and another at 7 p.m. for residents, officials said.

Lead photo courtesy of FDNY. All other photos courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch.