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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard Square in Cambridge was closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic amid a large emergency response following manhole explosions and “high levels” of carbon monoxide on Wednesday morning, officials said.

Firefighters responded to a report of a fire in the area of 27 Brattle Street around 9 a.m. and found a smoking and flaming manhole, according to the Cambridge Fire Department.

Cambridge police officers diverted traffic around the area in an effort to ensure the public’s safety.

+Caption(Cambridge Police Department)

“If at all possible, people should continue to avoid traveling through Harvard Square until further notice,” Cambridge police said in a tweet around 10:30 a.m.

Buildings in the area that have been exposed to carbon monoxide were evacuated and aired out as firefighters monitored the situation.

Just before 12:30 p.m., police announced that the scene had been “consolidated” and that JFK Street was back open to traffic.

CAMBRIDGE — Multiple manhole explosions shut down Harvard Square for hours on Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of nearby buildings, shuttering businesses, and surprising Harvard students moving into dormitories, officials said.

Two manholes caught fire on Brattle Street Wednesday morning, followed hours later by a third manhole fire, requiring an all-day emergency response to the area, Acting Cambridge Fire Chief Thomas Cahill said in a video posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

A firefighter was taken to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and has since been released, said Jeremy Warnick, a spokesperson for Cambridge Fire.

Shortly before 6 p.m., firefighters were clearing the area, the fire department said on X.

Eversource remained on site to attend to a few businesses that had lost power, Warnick said. No residences lost power, he said.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday night when power was expected to be restored, he said.

Eversource brought a generator to the area to supply customers with backup power while permanent repairs were made, a spokesperson for the company said. Customers will be hooked up to the generator once the city’s wire inspector completes testing and grants approval.

The explosions sent smoke billowing into the air and ground traffic to a halt on busy streets.

When Cambridge firefighters arrived around 9 a.m. to the scene at 27 Brattle St., one manhole was on fire, Cahill said. Shortly after, a second manhole popped and was on fire, he said.

“All the manholes are connected to each other, so generally if you have a problem with one, if you are unable to shut the power down, it will trickle to the next one,” Cahill told reporters at the scene, according to video broadcast by WCVB.

The area was closed to cars and pedestrians as firefighters ventilated carbon monoxide from several nearby buildings, officials said. Crews from Eversource were “repairing an underground electric cable,” the utility said shortly before noon.

Cahill said the cause of the fires must still be determined but that “we believe everything is related to electrical” issues.

There were no injuries, but a firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation, police said.

JFK Street was reopened to traffic shortly before 12:30 p.m., but vehicular and pedestrian traffic entering the Brattle Street area was still diverted as of early evening, Cambridge police said on X.

Grace Liu, a Harvard University sophomore helping freshmen move in Wednesday, said the fire made a stressful day even more so.

“With all the moving, there is already a lot of traffic, which this adds to,” Liu said. “I can feel the parents’ stress.”

Fire officials spent at least the first 45 minutes evacuating buildings, Cahill said. Many nearby businesses had carbon monoxide readings well over 100, he said.

“Once the buildings were evacuated we did our best to get the [carbon monoxide] levels down,” he said.

As of late afternoon, businesses still had carbon monoxide levels between 25 and 30, Cahill said.

“There really isn’t a good [carbon monoxide] number. Anything above zero you should be concerned about,” he said. “At 35 we automatically evacuate buildings, whether they are residences or businesses.”

By early evening, carbon monoxide levels returned to normal in nearby buildings, Warnick said.

Katie Walsh, an employee at a Moleskin stationary store near the fire, said she learned about the explosion on her way to work. She was told to unlock the door to air out the building and leave.

Tomas Arroyo, a Harvard freshman who moved into his residence hall last week, said he walked over to see what the commotion was.

”I was thinking it would be something bigger with the traffic and all the firetrucks,” Arroyo said.

Eversource said its crews were fixing an underground electric cable in the aftermath of the fire.

“We’re working with @CambridgePolice and @CambridgeMAFire to make the area safe and there are currently no related power outages for our customers,” the utility said on X.

Travis Andersen of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.

‘Tis the season for festbier, pretzels, oom-pah music, and more festive fun.

It’s time to tie on your trachten and flex your liter-hoisting muscles: Oktoberfest season returns to Greater Boston. The annual celebration of beer, bratwurst, and brass bands originated in Germany in the early 19th century. In Bavaria this year, it runs from Saturday, Sept. 16 through Tuesday, Oct. 3 — and around Boston, the party extends even longer. 

In chronological order, check out these Oktoberfest events at breweries, bars, and beautiful locations around the region to get in the spirit. Prost!

Idle Hands

One of Boston’s original brewing companies, Idle Hands Craft Ales, is known for excellent renditions of classic beers — lagers included. The Malden brewery celebrates its own anniversary in conjunction with Oktoberfest, and the two-for party returns Saturday, Sept. 9, from noon until 9 p.m. There will be a celebrity dunk tank to raise funds for Housing Families. Festive food will include Jaju Pierogi and Lionheart Confections (think: pretzels and German desserts). Live music all day begins with Traditional German and Oktoberfest songs from Natalja Sticco of Mystic Side Opera (12:30-1:30 p.m.), and turns into a polka party with The Beer Hall Boys all afternoon. DJ Bean & Friends closes things out starting at 6 p.m. At 4 p.m., try your hand at an official U.S. stein-hoisting state competition to win an Idle Hands prize pack and entry into the championship happening Oct. 1 at Jack’s Abby. New this year: Discover the Lager Lounge in the back of the brewery, tapping a coveted list of lagers throughout the day. Tickets at the door are $10 and include a souvenir plastic stein and your first beer, or you can pre-order a limited-edition, 20-ounce ceramic stein for $25, which also includes entry and your first round.

Cambridge, MA – Nauset Construction has begun implementing significant building support measures and structural steel upgrades to the Crimson Galeria building in Harvard Square as the owners pivot from office uses to apartments for the planned three-story vertical addition.

The owners originally permitted the building to construct office space on top of the Crimson Galeria, but during the COVID-19 pandemic decided to pursue a residential addition to the building instead, for which they received a Special Permit.

“There is an obvious need for both market-rate and affordable units in this market – certainly more than there is currently for office – and this addition will deliver both,” said Crimson Galeria LP principal Rachna Balakrishna. “We own and operate another mixed-use property with apartments and ground-floor retail in Harvard Square that is always oversubscribed and continues to perform well for us, and we fully anticipate that the Crimson Galeria apartments will also do well.”

Designed by NELSON Worldwide, the new residential addition will be home to 38 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, with approximately 20% designated as affordable. The initial phases of the project began before the pandemic and are now complete. These phases focused on interior upgrades to the existing retail space within the Crimson Galeria, as well as the construction of an Eversource vault to provide increased power for the new addition. To provide additional support for the multifamily units, Nauset is now orchestrating the installation of 42 micropiles, four super columns, and significant additional structural steel building upgrades.

Tensions are rising among police, businesses and homeless people and their advocates about people living on the street in Harvard Square. Police commissioner Christine Elow said Wednesday “a recent influx” has resulted in crime, flamboyant sexual behavior, trash and human waste that officers must deal with, while some homeless people and advocates say police are harassing the homeless and taking away their belongings.

And in Central Square, police are trying to prevent unhoused people from sleeping in a specific place: around the Cambridge Public Library Central Square branch. Police took that step because of “multiple complaints from the neighborhood,” particularly from residents of the Manning Apartments public housing development, which borders a small park between the library and their building, police superintendent Frederick Cabral said.

Cabral said police never order people to leave, contradicting the account of one homeless man and City Council candidate Dan Totten. Cabral said officers assign the department’s homeless outreach team “to that location, and they will work with the people there to connect them to the appropriate services.” Police eventually found a shelter bed for the man, but he stayed only one night and is now living on the street in Harvard Square.

There are few options for someone who wants a place to sleep inside that very night. Unoccupied shelter beds are difficult or impossible to get right now, especially on short notice. Operators of shelters in Cambridge contacted by Cambridge Day said they had no available beds; when there are beds, applicants must often enter a lottery to get one. Two shelters with a total of 40 beds are closed for the summer and most others offer long-term stays for many occupants.

Chef Tony Susi takes the reins at the Charles Hotel’s eternally Italian restaurant

For more than 20 years, this restaurant inside the Charles Hotel was Rialto, where chef Jody Adams made her name and diners’ nights with her warm, sophisticated take on Italian-influenced food. Regulars still miss her slow-roasted duck. It can be hard to move on after a long relationship.

Rialto closed in 2016, and the restaurant became Benedetto, where chef Michael Pagliarini (Giulia, Moëca) served duck, too, inside golden tortelloni wreathed with broccoli rabe, dried cherries, and shavings of Parmigiano. In 2021, Benedetto was replaced with Bar Enza, a collaboration between the hotel and the Lyons Group (behind Scampo, Summer Shack, and many more). Michelin-starred chef Mark Ladner brought meatballs the size of small cabbages, the 100-layer lasagna he was known for at New York’s Del Posto, and momentary buzz. Now Ladner has moved into a corporate role, and Bar Enza has a new executive chef: Tony Susi, whose food you may have eaten over the years in restaurants from Olives to Geppetto to Capo to his own former Sage.

When it comes to culinary talent, that’s an embarrassment of riches. If nothing else, the evolution of the space speaks to how many different ways there are to interpret “Italian restaurant.” Meanwhile, across the lobby, Henrietta’s Table has been serving farm-focused New England fare for almost 30 years. (It and Rialto both opened around the same time as Susi’s tiny nook in the North End.)

The new and bite-sized “25/8 artspace” is lighting up Harvard Square at all hours of the day.

Its first exhibition is “Bikes Move Us,” sculptures that celebrates the political power of bike riding – a potent theme in Cambridge now – by artist Nat Reed.