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by ADAM GOLDMAN
NEW YORK -- When smoke started to seep out of a bustling Manhattan subway station Friday morning, alarm bells began ringing in more than just fire stations around the city.
An apparent electrical fire that filled the West Fourth Street station with thick, black haze had frazzled New Yorkers reaching for their cell phones to let friends and family know they were OK.
"I have to tell them I'm still alive," said Roberta Friedman, 54, standing outside the subway station at Columbus Circle.
Reported at 8:05 a.m., the blaze injured a half dozen firefighters who suffered minor injuries, sending four of them to Cabrini Medical Center. Authorities suspect it started in a utility room on the mezzanine level, sparking the station's evacuation.
The subterranean fire forced the suspension of all service on the A, B, C, D, E, F, and V trains, along the Sixth and Eighth avenue corridors, said NYC Transit spokesman James Anyansi. West Fourth Street, in Greenwich Village, is a major subway hub along Manhattan's West Side, and tens of thousands of commuters were affected.
After three hours, service was restored in both directions on the B, D, F and V lines, Anyansi said. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., trains began running on the three Eighth Avenue lines; subways on all seven lines were bypassing the West Fourth Street stop.
Smoke billowed out of the station through street gates, forcing the shutdown of a stretch of Sixth Avenue as onlookers snapped pictures with their the cell phones.
The smell of smoke wafted through the subway system, giving stranded straphangers a hint of what went wrong. Commuters covered their mouths with their hands as they rushed in and out of the trains.
More than 100 firefighters and 25 pieces of fire equipment were at the scene.
The exact cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Alfi Apedo, 32, the co-owner of an Italian restaurant near the subway station, said the whole thing struck him as overkill.
"I appreciate the concern, but does this matter deserve all these vehicles and firefighters?" he asked. "For some smoke? We're paranoid."
Apedo, speaking as a fire truck pulled in front of D'Alessio, said the fire would likely cost him all of Friday's lunch business.
The fire came nine months after a January blaze knocked out service to two of those busy subway lines, causing officials to initially say that repairs would take up to five years. Transit authorities later backpedaled after an outcry from the public, and said the revised estimate was six to nine months. Full non-peak service on the A and C lines was restored Feb. 1, nine days later.
The January fire caused extreme damage to a signal room in lower Manhattan.
Associated Press Writer Amy Westfeldt contributed to this story.
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