ComEd
Equipment Box Explodes
2 workers injured; power outage hits 2,900 on South Side
Karen
Mellen, Staff Writer, Chicago Tribune
Human error may
be behind an explosion inside a Commonwealth Edison Co. equipment box
Thursday morning on Chicago's South Side, an accident that severely
burned a ComEd employee and injured a second worker.
"It does not look
like it was an equipment failure," said Reanetta Hunt, a ComEd spokeswoman.
"Work has to be done in a certain order. There is a concern about whether
that was done."
The accident, which
occurred about 9 a.m., knocked out power for about two hours to about
2,900 customers, including three Chicago public schools and high-rises
in the Chicago Housing Authority's Robert Taylor Homes.
Witnesses said heat
and flames pushed ComEd worker David Schury, 33, of Lemont, as far back
as 15 feet from a switch-gear box in the 4400 block of South State Street.
The switch gear connects main power lines and supplies power to transformers
for the Taylor Homes high-rises.
Schury suffered
third-degree burns to a quarter of his body, mostly his torso, and second-degree
burns to his face, Hunt said. He was listed in critical condition at
Cook County Hospital.
"The guy was cleaning
out the box," said Valerie Harris, a resident of 4410 S. State Street
who witnessed the explosion as she was leaving for work. "It went 'Boom!'
… His hands were on fire and his face was red … It sounded almost like
an earthquake."
A second ComEd employee,
whose name was not disclosed, was listed in good condition at Northwestern
Memorial Hospital after the explosion, according to hospital officials.
He suffered first-and second-degree burns to his face and leg, Hunt
said.
Hunt said the two
men were finishing their maintenance work when the explosion occurred.
A family member
who answered the phone at Schury's home Thursday afternoon said he is
married and has two children. Hunt said he would be in the hospital
for at least a few weeks.
"We're very concerned
about both of these men and their families," Hunt said.
ComEd officials
said power lines at the site were slated for upgrades and acknowledged
there were past problems at the location. For instance, a rat caused
a power outage a few months ago after it got into the equipment box,
and cars also have run into the metal box, ComEd officials said.
After the outage,
Chicago firefighters swept through the area's high-rises to check on
residents but did not find anyone trapped in elevators or otherwise
in danger, said Leslie Noy, a district chief with the Chicago Fire Department.
The power outage
affected about 2,900 customers from 35th to 55th Streets and from Michigan
Avenue to Wells Street.
About 90 percent
of the affected customers had power restored by 11 a.m., Hunt said.
These included the three schools affected: McCorkle School, 4421 S.
State Street, DuSable High School, 4934 S. Wabash Avenue; and Beasley
School, 5255 S. State Street.
A handful of parents
picked up their children early because of the outage, but the majority
of students worked through the incident, school officials said.
One parent at McCorkle,
Tanuneca Beecham, was upset by the inconvenience because she had to
take her two children and a friend's child to work with her.
CHA residents complained
that ComEd and the housing authority should have addressed the equipment
failures earlier, before Thursday's explosion and outage.
"We've had several
power outages," said Gregory Harris, who lives at 4410 S. State Street.
"They need to put in a whole new system."
The last buildings
to have power restored; at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, were three high-rises
at the Taylor Homes - 4410 and 4444 S. State Street and 4429 S. Federal
Street.
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