March 10--A fire started in an underground electrical vault, prompting an evacuation in the Uptown neighborhood Tuesday morning, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
No one was hurt during the incident in the 5000 block of Broadway Street about 9:20 a.m., said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The vault is underground near 5060 Broadway, which is connected to another building at 5050 Broadway, Langford said.
No fire actually got into the 5060 building, but it burned the vault area, according to Langford, who said about 400 people were outside on the street when firefighters got there and began searching the building.
"Some light smoke got into the building,'' Langford said. A woman who was working on the fourth floor at 5050 Broadway described hearing what she thought was an explosion, and then the building began "vibrating.''
Their computers shut down after a fire drill activated, she said.
"It was crazy,'' she said.
The 5060 building houses only businesses, said ComEd spokesman John Schoen.
"The power has been turned off until repairs can be done,'' according to Schoen, who said crews remain on the scene.
Schoen did not have a timeline for when it would be turned back on, and it was not clear immediately why the fire started.
