Update: July 3, 2:23 p.m.: Power was restored at the 78th Precinct at about 1 p.m. "We're fully functioning," an NYPD spokesman said.
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For the third day in a row, residents, businesses and the 2/3/4/5 lines have lost power at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Bergen Street.
A second manhole fire broke out at about 11:40 a.m. at the same intersection, cutting power to the subway and at least 122 customers, including the NYPD's 78th Precinct, Park Slope Patch's Will Yakowicz reported from the scene.
The FDNY put out the blaze within minutes and left the scene by 12:30. There were no injuries, an FDNY spokesman said.
The latest fire is a continuation of outages that began Sunday evening, after an enormous . It was restored by 3:30 a.m. but about 20 customers lost it again at about 11 a.m. Monday. Power was restored to all but two customers by about 7 p.m. and to all overnight.
As of 2:07 p.m. Con Edison had reduced the estimate of customers without power to 53. Get the latest update on Con Edison's power outage map.
Get breaking news alerts right in your inbox. Click for fast sign up for Prospect Heights' or Park Slope's daily newsletters.All subway service south of Atlantic-Pacific Street was halted between 11:40 a.m. and 1 p.m. Service then resumed with residual delays, an MTA spokeswoman said.
Con Edison still does not know the reason for the repeated fires but are working to get power back up as soon as possible. Right now they estimate that power will be restored by 5 a.m. Wednesday, said Con Ed spokesman Alfonso Quiroz.
"Our crews are on the scene and working on it. They're keeping a close eye on the situation," Quiroz said.
Con Edison officials say the outages have nothing to do with the breakdown of union negotiations Sunday, locking out 8,000 workers and causing managers and contractors to take over the work on the streets as temperatures reached the 90s. Talks are set to resume Thursday.
Let us know if you've lost power, and if you have any photos from the scene, go ahead and upload them to the story.
Stay with Patch for updates.
This is ridiculous, and you can't tell me that their locking-out of union workers has nothing to do with it. With managers down in the holes, it's not surprising that their band-aid measures keep failing. Get this manhole dealt with, get our power back on, and start bargaining in good faith with your hard-working union workers! It's too dang hot for this! And another recommendation for ConEd: never have a labor contract expire in the middle of the summer. You're just asking for problems, and it's your customers who end up paying for it!
Con Edison explains the reasons for the blackouts (not Barclays or the lockouts), they said: http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/con-edison-on-bergen-street-s-3-day-power-outage -Amy
The original purpose of unions remains the same: to keep honest wages for an honest day's work, keep working conditions as safe as possible, and support a career for workers (which benefits both the worker and the employer). Don't let the bad apples spoil the entire cart. Unions are more important now than ever before. I am incredibly thankful for the hard work of my union.