Monday morning an explosion at a natural gas pipeline near Milfay, Oklahoma cut off gas services to several homes in the midst of the polar vortex sweeping the country. Fortunately no one was hurt in the explosion of the 26-inch pipeline operated by Tulsa, OK based ONEOK, but investigators are still unsure about the cause of the blast. A resident of nearby Depew saw the explosion.
Theresa McKinzie was tending to her horses near Depew when she saw a massive fireball.
She described it as shooting about 10-15 hundred feet in the air before collapsing.
“Then a few seconds following, there was a very large boom, shook everything, rattled the car everything else,” McKinzie said. – Pipeline Explosion Causes Large Fire Near Milfay, January 6, 2014 5:47PM, NewsOn6 Richard Clark and Ashlei King
ONEOK quickly turned off the gas flow, and the fire was out within the hour. But pipeline officials were forced to wait for the pipeline to cool before completing the investigation and beginning repairs to the gas pipeline. Although no structures were damaged by the flames, natural gas service to several homes was cut off. Temporary service is being arranged for those families.