Reported explosion at Farragut substation in Brooklyn causes brief voltage flicker and lift rescues
Dec 2023Published 3 Oct 2026
Companies named in this entry: Con Edison
What happened
Late on a Thursday night in mid-December 2023, a little before midnight, Con Edison reported a voltage flicker of about a second caused by equipment failure at the Farragut Substation in Brooklyn. The company said crews were repairing a faulty transmission line when the mishap occurred. Witnesses reported a plume of smoke and the sound of an explosion. The brief disturbance was reported to have affected residents across all five boroughs of New York City.
Lifts shut down, including at Grand Central Station, and the fire department was called to various locations to rescue people trapped in lifts. Con Edison said voltage returned to normal and that an investigation was ongoing.
Contributing factors
Con Edison attributed the flicker to equipment failure at the substation while crews were repairing a faulty transmission line. The cause was still under investigation, and the source does not identify which component failed.
Lessons learned
- A voltage flicker of about a second can shut down lifts and escalators over a wide area.
- Operators should contact emergency managers promptly when a brief disturbance strands people in lifts.
- Repair work on transmission equipment should include a plan for how a disturbance might affect sensitive customer systems.
Source
Other entries that name Farragut
Other entries that name Brooklyn
- Contractor strikes high-voltage line, sparking transformer fire in Downtown Brooklyn
- Explosion at ageing Brooklyn substation strands New York City Subway riders
- Vinegar Hill substation flash causes brief Brooklyn outage
- Explosion reported at a Con Edison substation in Brooklyn
- Transformer vault fire prompts evacuations in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Published 2026-10-03. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.