An early-morning fire involving underground electrical equipment left cars damaged and dozens of homes without power in East New York. Fire crews were called to 635 New Jersey Ave. around 2:27 a.m. after reports of an active fire inside two transformer vaults, according to the Fire Department of the City of New York. Firefighters had the flames under control just after 4 a.m. and then turned the scene over to Con Edison. Cellphone video shared by neighbors shows power lines sparking and catching fire above the street. Other video shows thick smoke pouring from under a parked car — and flames appearing to come from a manhole beneath the vehicle. At least two cars were damaged. News 12 saw burnt wires on the sidewalk and charring on a Range Rover, including a burned tire.

The owner of that vehicle, Ron Sawers, said rubber from a burned wire fell onto his car. “Not again,” Sawers said. “It was here a couple months ago, and I thought they fixed it.” Crews were still working in the area near New Jersey Avenue and Livonia Avenue later in the morning. As of Wednesday morning, Con Edison’s outage map showed about 43 customers without power. Officials have not yet said what caused the fire.