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I heard the rumor two plants were on fire, one in Pennsylvania and one somewhere else...did you hear this one? I was terrified with all the people stuck in Manhattan etc. that God what if they released a chem agent, a car bomb, a SAM that wasn't in a sting?!

MSNBC exerpts

Pedestrians swarmed the streets of New York City Thursday evening, as a blackout halted subways and buses, turned off traffic signals and flushed workers out of businesses where the air conditioning and elevators had suddenly stopped working. Elsewhere, from Connecticut to Canada, people did their best to cope.

In Manhattan, where finding a $1,500-a-month studio apartment is considered a coup, people were instead desperately seeking ice, water, batteries and candles.
Other people licked ice cream put at risk because of the lack of power for freezers on a day where the temperature topped 90 degrees.
For some, the scene and the experience were eerily reminiscent of Sept. 11, 2001, after the World Trade Center towers fell and rivers of pedestrians flowed across the bridges out of the city and sought other ways home when their regular transportation was blocked.

‘This might be a mistake. But I have a dog, and there’s no way I’m staying in Jersey while my dog sweats to death.’
— JON SEVERINO
Commuter waiting for a ferry to take him into blacked-out New York City

At about 6 p.m. ET, about 20,000 people waited in line to board ferries to cross to New Jersey, said waterways operations manager Michael McPhillips. The line stretched from 38th Street to 55th Street.

Shortly before 8 p.m., power returned to Penn Station, and trains began loading to leave the city again, WNBC TV reported.
In Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, it seemed more like the 19th century than the 21st as candles illuminated the few windows with any light. In bars, people sipped drinks purchased by candlelight. Some flouted the smoking ban, their lit cigarettes glowing in the darkness that enveloped the city.

Yeah, I heard it was a natural part of the shut down process to get rid of unspent fuel..fire was coming of the plumes, which normally release steam.