Firefighters try to cool down steaming manhole

Apparently a manhole outside 505 Boylston St., just past Clarendon, has been steaming all week, giving passersby a strong whiff of something awful. But today, it started steaming even more than usual, and firefighters, at first thinking they were dealing with a flaming manhole, doused the thing with liberal amounts of water. They summoned NStar, whose hole it is, to the scene; before an electrical crew could arrive, firefighters discovered the smoke was, in fact, steam.

Jeff Cutler photographed the dousing, for which police shut Boylston Street.

Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Stanley Forman also photographed the scene.