Salt Water in Underground Electrical Vaults Closes Pearl St.

The rising temperatures this afternoon and the resulting rush of melting snow and road salt caused another steam incident in the township's underground electrical vaults on Main St.

The vault was on the end of Pearl St. as it intersects Main St., so a police vehicle stood by as PSE&G truck pumped the water out of the hole.

"It's not that uncommon with the melting snow and water," said Woodbridge Fire Dept. Captain Jeffrey Moran.

"There was steam there. We weren't getting any electrical arcing," he said.

The electrical arcing happened two weeks ago on Main St., when employees at CVS noticed the smell of smoke and called the Fire Department. The underground electrical short, caused by melting snow and road salt, didn't spread and was resolved after a few hours of PSE&G's tending to it.

Not all manhole covers are over sewers; some of the smaller manhole covers are in fact over electrical vaults where underground electrical lines run.