Let's just take a moment and savor the semi-natural beauty of this dramatic manhole fire that briefly raged outside Maggie Brown classic comfort food restaurant on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn last night. A spokesman for Con Ed tells us the manhole was officially "smoking," but before the smoke there was fire, as insulation around the cables went up in flames. Whoever uploaded the video was dining at Maggie Brown when the fire started around 10:30, and writes, "As a result of the debacle, we got a free meal. Hooray for flammable infrastructure!" Owner Katie Salas, however, did not share in their jubilation.
"I was here until 3 in the morning," Salas tells us. "It spread gas into the basement, so I had to sit and wait for it all to dissipate." Salas didn't see the fire, but when she noticed the FDNY outside, she approached one firefighter to ask what was happening. "He said, 'Oh, nothing. Happens all the time.'"
Salas briefly lost power in the restaurant, and the lights were flickering all night. The electricity supply was particularly weak in the kitchen, so she estimates she had to throw out about $200 worth of food, in addition to not charging customers when the joint was evacuated.
But on the plus side, Salas tells us, "I met a lot of firemen." Unfortunately she didn't get any phone numbers, because, as she puts it, "They were too professional."
At press time, Gothamist was unable to confirm the status of the bicycle seen in the video, mere inches from the flames.
