Fire at ConEd Plant in Astoria Turns NYC’s Night Sky Blue

An explosion at a ConEd plant in Astoria, Queens caused the skies over New York City to turn bright blue on Thursday evening. The ConEd plant is located on 20th Avenue near Lawrence Point, in the Ditmars-Steinway portion of Queens. The bright lights were seen throughout New York City and New Jersey, and were captured by thousands on social media.

Update 10:42pm: LGA is still operating on a modified schedule after the power outage

Update 10:20pm: FDNY is reporting the situation is under control with no injuries and no active fire.

Update 10:09pm: The ground stop has been LIFTED at LaGuardia Airport, but at this time we have not seen any departing flights (only arrivals)

Update 10:02pm: A full ground stop has been confirmed at LaGuardia Airport due to power outages.

Update 9:58pm: Latest reports suggest that power outages are also affecting LaGuardia Airport.

The NYPD reported that the fire was under control as of 9:30pm. There have been no official reports of injuries. While it is unclear what caused the fire in the first place, bright colors from transformer fires, explosions, or arcing power lines are not uncommon. The energy from a high-voltage explosion that occurs when a transformer fails is significant, and the temperature near t

he immediate explosion can rise quickly due to radiant energy. Ionization of the air around the fault can cause the colors.

The light was likely reflected further away from cloud cover, expanding the amount of people who were able to view the colors.

We will update this article with more details as we get them.

Power just flickered off and this is happening in Astoria… #queens #bluesky #explosion pic.twitter.com/9Bxk1NSc7v

— Chris Snyder (@tofer) December 28, 2018

The lights went off in my apartment and then this is the sky in NYC right now… what is happening… #bluesky #nyc #newyork pic.twitter.com/J8AmfQK6LO

— Valerie Scott (@Valerie_scottt) December 28, 2018

what’s uh this freaky blue explosion lighting up the sky in NYC? pic.twitter.com/GPBVUjVUYJ

— Matt Quintanilla (@redkeg) December 28, 2018

Blue light over NYC skyline.
Apparently a ConEd transformers blew up in Astoria.#nycsky #ConEd #WTF pic.twitter.com/qMNxUHFopN

— Bishalchhatkuli (@bishal_chatkuli) December 28, 2018