Crews put out stubborn barge fire in Long Island City, Queens
LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) -- Plumes of smoke filled the night sky after a massive barge caught fire overnight in Queens.
The fire broke out on a barge floating in the East River around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Officials say they were able to put out the flames at the Sims Metal Facility in just under two hours.
The video of the scene shows the intensity of the flames, which looked like a large ball of fire with heavy smoke rising and billowing into the air.
A large amount of recycled metal apparently caught fire on the barge.
Workers jumped into action and used an excavator in an attempt to smother the flames.
Smoke could be seen from quite a distance as the barge burned for hours spewing smoke over heavily populated neighborhoods in Long Island City and Sunnyside, Queens. There were also reports of smoke in Brooklyn.
The stubborn blaze was knocked down, only to flare up again hours later.
It has since been placed under control.
There's no word yet on how the fire started.
No injuries were reported.
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