An underground vault fire erupted from a manhole on the 2100 block of Pacific Avenue between Laguna Street and Buchanan Street on Saturday night, resulted in damage to an on-street vehicle and several nearby windows, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

The explosion was reported around 8:20 p.m., as startled residents witnessed a manhole cover explode beneath a parked car, as ABC7 reported.

The force of the explosion caused significant damage to both the vehicle and the surrounding buildings’ windows. Authorities attributed the incident to an underground Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) vault that spontaneously erupted.

PG&E's website shows what an underground vault looks like. It usually provides access to underground public utility equipment.

Capt. Jonathan Baxter, spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department, provided further details on the incident. He said that as a precautionary measure, the vault had been de-energized, and PG&E is set to conduct a thorough inspection to ensure its safety before re-energizing the line.

In the aftermath, residents have been advised to shelter in place, with authorities urging the public to steer clear of the affected area. A reported 391 customers in the vicinity lost electricity, as power lines were compromised due to the underground equipment failure.

No injuries were reported.

These vault explosions have happened around San Francisco on occasion over the years, like this one near Union Square in May 2017, and one that happened in the Financial District the previous summer.

Image via Google Street View.

An underground utility vault, the kind that occasionally explodes and sends a manhole cover flying, exploded this morning at 9:40 a.m. at the intersection of Mason and Cyril Magnin Streets, near Union Square. The Examiner reports that PG&E arrived at the scene and that several streets were blocked off as a result, but the incident did not lead to any power outages in the area.

San Francisco Police Sgt. Frank Fagan told the paper that the streets were blocked as a precaution because "These manholes covers are very heavy... [and] they could blow off."

SF had a spate of exploding manholes for several years, the most recent incident we reported on here having been in August 2016.

PG&E has been berated in the news recently following that major blackout several Fridays back, an incident over which many affected downtown business are expected to file legal claims.

An underground explosion beneath in the Financial District this morning resulted in what the Fire Department calls a "PG&E Vault Incident" and what the casual layperson observer might describe as "oh my god that's a flying manhole cover." The incident took place before 8:30 a.m. and there were no injuries, as Hoodline reports.

A spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Andrea Menniti, explained the chain reaction that led to this "vault incident" to the Chronicle: A fire hydrant at Belden Place and Bush Street burst, pouring water into an underground electrical vault. Two hours later that caused an explosion that blew off the manhole cover.

Smoke was reported, but the fire department found no fire.

Happens all the time, folks.

Related: PG&E 'Equipment Failure' Causes SF Manhole Explosion, Underground Fire, And Power Outage
Timeline of S.F. Manhole Cover Explosions

That is: a manhole cover on Bush Street blew off near the intersection with Stockton Street just a few blocks from Union Square around 11:30 a.m. this morning.

Bystanders in the area report the block was closed to traffic while two fire trucks and two PG&E vans cleaned up the scene. The only casualty seems to be the rear bumper of a late model red Ford Focus. KRON 4 reports one bystander may have been injured.

A few years ago, SFist wondered what was causing all the manhole covers downtown to explode. The official word from PG&E at the time was that the explosions were due to "burning secondary mains." Which is not at all terrifying.

Update, 2 p.m.: Reader Santiago Santos sends in video of SFFD cleaning the messy aftermath.

"We know a power cable failed," PG&E spokesman Joe Molica told Bay City News unhelpfully, "but we don’t know why.”

A bystander and an employee of the nearby Moth and Dagger Tattoo studio said he could see smoke and fire coming from the exposed manhole after the cover blasted about four feet in the air and banged into the rear of the red Ford.

Previously: All exploding manhole coverage on SFist.

Like a little Christmas gift from PG&E, a manhole cover blew off at 3rd and Mission Streets last evening in a festive display caused by an underground vault fire.

The incident happened around 5 p.m. Tuesday evening, as ABC 7 reports. Passersby were scared by the loud boom, and traffic was disrupted for an hour or two.

No injuries were reported, thankfully, but these things are dangerous, and vault fires like the one last night are what PG&E has been hoping to prevent after a recent revelation of fraudulent inspections by contractors and employees that put them at risk for equipment fires. The report on those inspections indicated that they were mostly in the South Bay, but this fire and manhole explosion may suggest otherwise.

[ABC 7]
[BCN/Chron]

All previous manhole cover blast coverage.

Yesterday evening an electrical worker found himself stuck in a SoMa manhole after he reportedly fell down the ladder at Howard and Fremont Streets. The electrical worker, who was apparently not part of PG&E's crack team according to the utility company, called the Fire Department for assistance around 9:20 p.m. Sunday night. It took rescue workers on the scene a solid 30 minutes to get the man out, but not before one of their own became stuck himself, leading to this awkward yet hilarious "2 men, 1 hole" series of notifications from @Emergency_In_SF San Francisco's unofficial emergency twitter account:

MAN in MANHOLE: man is stuck in a manhole (seriously) off Howard in SOMA (exact location tbd). Seriously.

— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) April 9, 2012

MAN in HOLE (update): rescue team setting up equip to extract man from manhole (apparently near Fremont & Howard). He's really stuck good.

— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) April 9, 2012

MAN in HOLE (update): Rescuer has joined man stuck in hole. Man requires extended effort which is delaying rescue.

— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) April 9, 2012

MAN in HOLE (update): Rescuer has joined man stuck in hole. Man requires extended effort delaying rescue. CLARIFICATION: 2 men 1 hole

— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) April 9, 2012

MAN in HOLE (final): Man & rescuer safely extracated from hole. Don't know how fell in. Don't have pics. But all true. (phew my side hurts)

— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) April 9, 2012

@Emergency_in_SF, for the record, is not affiliated with the city or county of San Francisco, but someone in city hall should really considering hiring this guy full time.

[BCN/Appeal]
[@Emergency_in_SF]

Today at around 1:50 pm, there was a manhole cover explosion on Folsom Street at Harriet Street. Alert SF notes: "Folsom Street is closed between 6th and 7th Streets. Harriet Street is closed between Howard and Harrison Streets. Please avoid the area."

Power in the area has also been affected, with outages hitting Sixth and Seventh Streets between Harrison and Howard.

Update: Power has since been restored. CBS 5 reports that firefighter, "fought the blaze by applying carbon dioxide, which essentially “smothers” the fire without damaging the underground electrical equipment."

Please post your finest "manhole-SoMa" jokes in the comments.

Two manhole covers exploded this morning in the city's Financial District. The early morning explosions, according to PG&E, were due to burning secondary mains. Scary, right? Right. Uncommon, yes? Nope. It turns out that, care of tenacious research from SFist commenter FraggleRock, a pattern emerges.

Behold:

• August 19, 2005 @ Post & Kearny - Woman severely burned, property damage to Polo Ralph Lauren store.
• February 21, 2007 @ Mason betw. Geary & O'Farrell - underground 1-alarm fire, no injuries.
• June 24, 2008 @ California & Drumm - 2 manhole covers blown off, cable car service disrupted, no injuries.
• August 27, 2008 @ Stockton & O'Farrell - underground explosion blows off manhole cover, no injuries.

Today's TL fire? Well, here's your problem...

Gavin wants your fat. According to Renewable Energy Access, yesterday our dear Mayor implemented a new program that will collect fats, oil, and grease from the city restaurants free of charge.Why? So that they can be to turn into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles. The program is called SFGreasecycle. Ew. But: awesome.

Said fat and oil, when poured down the drain, "solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the way cholesterol affects blood flow in arteries." Although we recommend finer establishments holding onto their duck and bacon fats, this is a brilliant idea. Period. And local restaurants can sign-up for free service right here. So...do it now. We said now!

Image credit: the City of Longmont / "[A] sewer manhole outside of a Longmont restaurant. The sewer line has been completely filled with grease." Have a good lunch break, folks!

There's been an underground explosion at Post and Kearny, right outside the Ralph Lauren store at the Crocker Galleria. At around 10 a.m., people said they heard an explosion and saw the sidewalk rise up about 6-7 inches. Two manhole covers were blown off, as was a concrete cover, and the explosion blew up the glass front of the Ralph Lauren store. One woman was sent to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, burns. We wish her a speedy recovery.

The authorities suspect that an underground transformer blew, but the bomb squad is going in before they let PG&E look around. Parts of Post, Sutter, Montgomery, and Kearny have been cordoned off as the investigation continues.

Not a good week for PG&E, who just got hit with a possible $15 million fine for the Christmas 2003 above-ground transformer explosion too. In other news, there was also a bomb scare at Civic Center (which was cleared without incident) around the same time. Meanwhile, the authorities are also worrying that the beached whale we told you about in Half Moon Bay might explode as well. (Really!)

Also -- Flickr users, ABC News 7 wants to use your digital photos of the blast if you have any. And the SFGate.com website is running a little slow with all the traffic, so don't panic if it takes longer than usual to get to the Culture Blog.