15th St? What the heck is going on on 4th and Union?

For all I know, this is related to the 15th St thing, but I came home via taxi a little while ago and the police/fireman presence on Union between 3rd and 4th and around the corner for the next couple of blocks towards Garfield is significant. Quite a few cop cars, several firetrucks, more closer to 3rd st and possibly up near 9th St. My friend said she saw smoke but I didn't. It certainly looks like something is up in the subway.

yeah, it was a real flashing light festival last night at 4th and Union
several ambulances standing by, firetrucks, Con Ed

More adventures in aging infrastructure meeting overload - the smoke was from all the utility covers, presumably more electrical fire problems. The power went out altogether on Union around 10:30p - don't know how high up. The Coop stayed on, so maybe it was all below 5th Ave this time.

http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2006/07/energy_needs.html

It's bugging me that most news reports say "Con Ed reports 500 customers out in the Bronx" etc but I haven't heard anything about Brooklyn. At least 2 blocks were out for at least 16 hours Monday night- Tuesday afternoon; that's gotta be a few hundred people without service...

A manhole cover blew around 10.30 apparently (don't know exactly where) - power went out and came back up at around 3am.
Only seemed to affect Union St below 5th so we could still hear the whir of everyone else's a/c's as we sat in the dark!