A natural gas line ruptured into a fiery explosion this Friday in Bakersfield, California – which left somebody dead and seriously injured two others. Full story after the jump.
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The ruptured Pacific Gas and Co. line burst into 200 foot high flames in rural California on Friday, engulfing everything in it’s path.
The line was cut by a farmer using heavy equipment in a field south of town around 3:30 p.m., according to Kern County fire Capt. Tom Ellison. The pipeline was about 12 feet underground when it was struck, but it is unclear what kind of work was said to be doing.
Several videos of passerby’s emerged of the flames spreading through the land and covering the sky.
Fire Captain Tom Ellison stated:
“The fire burned so intensely. Everything was gone. It was black.”
The fire destroyed a home that was close by and injured the two people from the house, with second and third degree burns ranging from 20-30% of their bodies. A child was also in the home, but was left unharmed.
The person who died was the operator of the equipment that struck the underground line.
PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith states the gas line was quickly shut down and the fire was out by 4:30 p.m. The line was just recently inspected between Nov. 10 and 12. PG&E had been notified sometime before of work near the pipeline, but Smith said that work notice had expired by Nov. 5. There was no current work notice.
No PG&E employees were involved in work that caused the fire and none were injured.
