Four homes went up in flames and collapsed in charred heaps Tuesday after a natural gas line exploded in an inferno that raged for at least an hour, melting guardrails and pavement on a swath of Interstate 77.
Five other homes had extensive external damage, and several people were treated for smoke inhalation, but authorities said there were no fatalities and all residents had been accounted for.
“We’ve been very fortunate,” said Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who toured the damage then briefed the media. “They were just lucky enough not to be home.”
Most were at work. One man had just left to go hunting, he said.
State Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous said a slight risk of a secondary explosion remained, so people who had initially been told to stay inside nearby homes were later urged to evacuate.
The explosion occurred between Sissonville and Pocatalico just before 1 p.m. in a 20-inch transmission line owned by NiSource Inc., parent of Columbia Gas. The gas flow was shut off, but State Police 1st Sgt. James Lee said there was still pressure on the transmission line.
Kent Carper, president of the Kanawha County Commission, said flames had been shooting 50 to 75 feet into the air before the fire was extinguished.
“It sounded like a Boeing 757. Just a roar,” he said. “It was huge. You just couldn’t hear anything. It was like a space flight.”
Trevor Goins lives about a half-mile from the explosion and was watching television in his apartment when he saw a ripple in his coffee cup and the floor shook.
“I thought possibly (it was) a plane crash,” said Goins, who immediately went outside with several neighbors. “It was so loud it sounded like a turbine engine. You almost had to put your hands over your ears.”
He got in his car and drove closer, seeing fire that stretched as high as the hilltops.
“The flames were so high, they were so massive,” he said. “I could only imagine what had happened.”
Carper said the flames spanned about a quarter of a mile and ran through a culvert under the interstate.
“It actually cooked the interstate,” he said. “It looks like a tar pit.”
Tomblin said a roughly 800-foot section both directions was baked by the heat.
“It turned the asphalt to cinder,” he said, after walking across it. “Your feet were hot. It was like walking on a volcano.”
Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox said contractors are already working on repairs, and the state hopes to have the highway reopened by Wednesday night. Crews were expected to work through the night to remove the asphalt and grind the roadway down to the original concrete before repaving.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get it back,” Mattox said.
Guardrails melted, utility poles burned, an ordinarily reflective green interstate sign was burned down to white metal and the blast blew a huge hole in the road, throwing dirt, rocks and debris across the interstate.
“Even the hillside was on fire,” Tomblin said. “There are some homes in close proximity that are still smoking.”
Tom Miller, training officer at the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department, marveled at the destruction.
“Four lanes are gone,” he said, adding that it was remarkable that no motorists were injured. “We were very lucky – no rush-hour traffic.”
Federal and state investigators are now trying to determine the cause.
“It’s one of those rare events that happen,” the governor said, “and at this time we do not have those answers,” he said
NiSource spokesman Mike Banas said the company was still gathering facts.
“Our first priority is the safety of our employees and the community,” he said, adding that no impacts on customers are anticipated.
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and has made pipeline safety a priority, vowed to get answers.
The West Virginia Democrat said the National Transportation Safety Board is launching a team “imminently” to investigate, he said, as is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Raw video & raw feelings: New video from the PA tanker fire that fueled many comments & the ire of the videographer.
44 commentsThis is apparently video shot a little earlier than the previous one we shared with you from Friday’s tanker crash and burn near Liberty Township, Pennsylvania (Tioga County). That video, posted here very early Sunday morning, and this video, were taken by Lonny Frost, who appears to shoot and report a fair amount of fire activity and other news in the region.
From remarks via Facebook on STATter911.com and with this video, Lonny Frost is not happy with some of the comments made by our KICs (keyboard incident commanders). Here’s what he wrote on Facebook:
For a while after this comment the video in question was made “private” on YouTube. As of this writing it’s back up.
With the posting of this latest video, Lonny Frost added these comments to the description on YouTube:
Lonny Frost is far from alone in criticizing the comments that are posted on STATter911.com or even criticizing me for providing this forum. There are a lot of people who feel this way. I understand why they feel the way they do. I even respect such opinions and don’t take any criticism of the comments on this site, the site itself or of me personally. I try to learn from it all. And, by the way, if you look at what Lonny Frost is saying, even if you think he is greatly misguided, it’s hard not to note that his heart is in the right place by standing up for firefighters (that’s more than some people believe about the publisher of this rag).
I have dealt with people who are offended by the comments section since almost day one of STATter911.com more than five-years-ago. Some of the complaints came from my closest and oldest friends in the fire service. I listened to what they all had to say and made the decision to keep the comments and censor as little as possible. I continue to stand by that decision and amazingly my friends still stand by me. Not that it doesn’t cause me great pain at times when I see personal bashing and comments that are more vindictive than constructive. To me, the forum works best when there is an adult discussion of issues and tactics with the egos left at the door (I know … I’m a dreamer).
In this particular incident in Tioga County, the comments came in rather fast and furious. The overall theme was one questioning what many believe are serious safety issues with this operation. While some said it more nicely than others, the comments almost all were about the same concerns.
As regular readers know I leave all of the commenting about firegound tactics and safety issues to others. But I do have some general observations about all of this.
First of all, I believe it would be nicer and more civilized if we could just tell people directly our concerns in a more private way. But the cameras everywhere, digital nature of life in the 2000s seems to have changed that dynamic forever. It isn’t just the fire service. In almost everything today we all have to deal with the instant analysis of our actions, whether it’s because of something we innocently wrote on Facebook or the video our neighbor took of us walking around our backyard in our underwear.
Taking that as a given, I’m left with this statement from Lonny Frost: “I thought there was a botherhood in firefighting.” Others (apparently firefighters) have said the same thing about some of the comments with the New Jersey ambulance fire video this weekend. This issue of “brotherhood” has long been brought up by those offended by the comments section.
The question I toss out to the crowd is this: Are you being more of a “brother” by not pointing out an important safety lapse in one of these videos so you won’t hurt that brother’s feelings or is brotherhood making your thoughts clear on an actions you see that could injure or kill your brother firefighters?