Con Edison's McGee reassured residents after internet speculation that aliens or the villain Thanos from the recent Avengers' movie Infinity War had invaded.

"No, it wasn't space aliens," he said.

"All power has been restored to normal. "But the videos online of the blue lights in the sky are still flying all over the internet," McGee said.

The fire caused scattered outages, stalled some city trains and briefly blacked out LaGuardia Airport because of a transmission dip, he said.

It also caused some flight cancellations and delays but all power and services were restored before midnight, McGee said.

The cause of the incident was being investigated.

Reuters