A hybrid car erupted into a huge fireball Tuesday afternoon outside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority headquarters in Lower Manhattan, sending thick black smoke over the street in a scene that drew attention from blocks away. The blaze broke out a short distance from Wall Street's Charging Bull statue.
Firefighters responded at around 17:42 EDT and extinguished the flames just over an hour later. No injuries were reported.
Viral footage circulating online showed the smoke swallowing the roadway as the fire burned. The incident is under investigation, and it is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.
The location put the fire in one of the city’s most heavily watched commercial corridors, outside the MTA’s headquarters and near a landmark that usually pulls tourists rather than emergency crews. That contrast is part of what made the blast so visible as it unfolded in the late afternoon.
For now, the main question is not whether the flames were contained — they were — but what failed inside the vehicle hard enough to turn a routine street scene into a fireball in the shadow of Wall Street.
