There were some scary moments in downtown Albany after several buildings are evacuated and surrounding roads closed down Wednesday. Fire officials say there was an underground fire. Erin Vannella has more.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Several buildings were evacuated and surrounding roads closed in downtown Albany after an underground fire Wednesday afternoon.

Explosions could be heard on Pearl Street and manhole covers blew into the air just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. Crews arrived on the scene to find fires under at least six manhole covers.

National Grid arrived shortly thereafter and shut off the power to the area.

Businesses on Pearl Street and Eagle Street closed as police attempted to redirect traffic.

Officials say there were high readings of carbon monoxide in the basements of buildings on Pearl between State and Columbia, but were no reports of injuries by the time officials had the scene under control at around 6 p.m..

"We do know there was a fire in the underground vault. There is a lot of different utility equipment that is in those vaults. Some is gas and electric. There was also sewer, water and a lot of different things like that. All those things are gasious in some respect," National Grid Spokesman Patrick Stella said.

National Grid says it is too early to determine a cause. Meanwhile, Mayor Jerry Jennings is calling for a thorough investigation to make sure it doesn't happen again.