An Oklahoma pipeline burst into flames Tuesday night, creating a blaze so intense that it could be seen from miles away.
Flames licked the Harper County sky in a rural area of northwestern Oklahoma, after a natural gas pipeline owned by Nothern Natural Gas Co. exploded. The blast, which occurred around 150 miles northwest of the capital city, could be seen from 50 miles away, Reuters reported. Emergency crews, including 75 firefighters, were able to contain and subsequently extinguish the fire by cutting off the flow of gas soon after they'd received reports of the explosion. No injuries have been reported.
"The fire has been extinguished," a spokesperson for Northern Natural Gas told Reuters. "We isolated that section of the line and let the gas burn down."
Deputy Cliff Brinson of the Harper County Sheriff's Department told CBS News that the flames reached a height of two football fields, and that the sounds of the initial blast were like those of four jet engines revving up.
Residents living within two miles of the explosion were moved to safer areas - a family of three living just 200 yards from the site of the blast managed to get away unscathed.
The 30-inch pipeline was ruptured, but authorities are still unsure as to how or why. Officials were investigating the event a few hours after it occurred, Reuters reported, and expected to start repairs as soon as Wednesday. Gas routes were moved away from the broken pipeline, and deliveries on the line that runs from Texas to the upper Midwest were uninterrupted by the explosion.
But the spokesperson stressed that he and other authorities were not sure when the line could resume service.
"It can take two days or several weeks," he told Reuters.
CBS Oklahoma City affiliate KWTV reported receiving a handful of phone calls and emails from residents who said they could see the flames from southern Kansas and as far as the Oklahoma Panhandle.