More accounts: Town shaken by pipeline explosion...

Posted: Nov 14, 2008 05:51 PM

Updated: Nov 14, 2008 06:58 PM

By Amy Lester, News 9

ALEX, Okla. -- Three families are homeless after a major explosion that caused a significant crater in the ground. It happened after a natural gas pipeline ruptured near the town of Alex.

This was a very strong explosion with a lot of force. People felt the impact as far as 10 miles away.

"It sounded like an airplane coming in over the house, like a big jet," Alex resident Barbara Beasley said.

When Beasley grabbed her camera and headed out at about 3 a.m., she discovered not a plane, but a massive fire.

"It's just amazing how much gas was going, was escaping from it," Beasley said.

A natural gas pipeline ruptured, four feet underground, creating a 30-foot-wide crater spewing out gas and igniting a large fire. Three homes burned to the ground.

The pipeline is operated by Enogex, a subsidiary of Oklahoma Gas & Electric's parent company. It transports raw natural gas 80 miles across Oklahoma to a processing facility.

"We actually send a device through the pipeline that looks for flaws, cracks, structural integrity issues that might cause a problem," Brian Alford with OG&E said.

Enogex will analyze part of the pipeline, looking for flaws that could have caused the pipe to rupture.

"We do not have any cause at this point," Alford said. "We'll be doing some significant testing and investigation over the next several days, weeks."

For those who saw the fury, they'll never forget it.

"I'm just so glad everyone's okay," Beasley said.

One person is still in the hospital in good condition. As for why this happened, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Pipeline Safety is handling the investigation.

The pipeline was installed in 1975 and that this is the first time anything like this has ever happened.

Al and Venita's account of the incident (from KSBI):

...Venita Parker, who lives just yards from the explosion said, "Just imagine that a jet plane landed right next to your bedroom window, that's what it sounded like."

Awakened in the dead of night, Al and Venita Parker rushed to see what happened.

"It hurt your eyes to look at that it was like the sun was all light around here. I couldn't believe it," Venita explained.

At about 3am a pipeline, that transported natural gas to a near by production plant, explodes shooting fire hundreds of feet in the air, engulfing 3 homes. And it was only 100 yards from the Parker's home.

"Got a bunch of guns, important papers, some clothes and a couple calves loaded up and got out of here in case it jumped across the road," said Al Parker.

After many hours, firefighters were able to control the blaze. The line was shut off, and crews pulled out the ruptured piece of pipe from a 30 foot crater just north of Highway 19. Officials aren't sure what caused the explosion.

"This particular piece of line had been inspected in 2007 with no indications that it did have any problems at the time," said Brian Alford the spokesperson of OG&E. "They do happen but they're uncommon. More often than not we do see it when someone actually has dug into a line. It's not necessarily the case with this one."

Mildred Hull was transported to the Integris Medical Center Burn Unit in Oklahoma City where she's in good condition with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. A second person sustained minor injuries.

"I talked to the guy who lived in the trailer on the north side, and he said his wife was burned from the knees down to the back, and it was just from running away from the heat," Al described.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families and we'll be reaching out to them," Alford added.

At the time the rock home was unoccupied, but the other two were. A wonder that anyone made it out alive.

"I couldn't even concentrate because I though they had to have been blown up as hot as that heat was and as big as that explosion was. I feel very fortunate that everyone got out of that deal," Venita concluded.

Highway 19 east of Alex was closed for a while today. It re-opened at about 11 this morning. Fire crews were watching hot spots to make sure that none of the surrounding areas caught fire. The gas line is operated by Enogex, which is a subsidiary of OG&E. They will now take that section of pipe and run tests to figure out why the explosion happened.

Click for video of What my neighbors saw and heard.