North Brooklyn Fire Scare Was Just A Gas Flare
EAST WILLIAMSBURG – As flames shot into the night over Brooklyn on Sunday, turning the sky orange, residents took to social media, concerned about what they thought was a fire at the National Grid.
Fire in Brooklyn that I’m watching on the way to the #joshritter concert pic.twitter.com/Q5KwtDjUSM
— Coastal & Corporate (@refreshstream) October 29, 2017
pretty sure national grid in Brooklyn is on fire rn pic.twitter.com/e1KcBBCwF8
— Danny Leggett (@dannyleggettman) October 30, 2017
“Not sure if this is supposed to happen,” wrote Rob Slater on Twitter, speculating that the National Grid was on fire.
Turns out, it was supposed to happen. Sort of.
The FDNY stated there was no fire, but was instead the burning of waste from the National Grid Facility at 287 Maspeth Ave.
A representative from National Grid wrote in an email: “Flaring of excess gas… is a normal operation of gas processing facilities. As the Greenpoint [Liquified Natural Gas] facility was going through a routine controlled shut down last night, the flare was larger or brighter than typical.”
While they couldn’t clarify how often such large flares happen, they confirmed it was by no means a frequent occurrence.