Reports said the fire at the Con Edison facility in Astoria in Queens, New York had been contained.
Highlights
- Sky lit up with blue glow after fire broke out at a major energy company
- Incident forced the city's LaGuardia airport to temporarily shut down
- Social media users flooded Twitter and Facebook with images, videos
Like a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie, the skyline of New York was lit up in an eerie shade of blue after an incident at power facility in Queens on Thursday night, alarming residents and sparking reactions on social media.
The incident also forced the city's LaGuardia airport to temporarily shut down.
The New York Police Department said it appeared that a transformer had exploded at a campus operated by Consolidated Edison, a major energy company in the US. The fire had been brought under control, it added.
Con Edison also confirmed that a fire had broken out at their facility.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson tweeted that the LaGuardia Airport was “temporarily closed due to a power outage resulting from the Con Edison explosion.”
Social media users flooded Twitter and Facebook with images and videos of the incident.
It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the transformer explosion or how many people were left without power, local media reported.