Natural gas pipeline rupture causes 'wall of flame'

A natural gas pipeline ruptured in Fremont, California, US, causing a fire that reached around 60 foot high and burned for most of Friday (March 14th). The pipeline ruptured in the morning and was felt in residential areas several miles away from the site of the incident. No injuries were reported.

The explosion occurred around six miles from Fremont in a reasonably secluded area. There was no damage to structures at the site, according to the Fremont Tribune, although several homes close to the blaze were evacuated as a precaution. The main damage was done to corn stubble in a field next to the ruptured area of pipeline.

Following the initial explosion, several smaller blasts were also experienced before the gas flow to the pipeline was turned off by workers from Northern Natural Gas. Although the damaged section of pipeline was shut off from the rest of the line, the fire continued to burn for several hours. Other pipelines in the area kept up supply to local areas.

Firefighters waited for the gas that remained in the pipeline to burn off before tackling the blaze. They were unable to get close to the source of the fire due to the extreme heat and instead set up barricades to protect the public while waiting to be able to get closer to the area. 

It is not yet known what caused the explosion, although an investigation is underway to try and determine the cause. Understanding what led to the incident could take a number of weeks. Northern Natural Gas will extract the damaged section of pipeline to see if it can discover what caused the rupture. It is not yet clear whether an external regulator will be involved in the investigation.

The company has around 14,900 miles of natural gas pipeline running throughout a number of states. It hasn't yet been confirmed when the ruptured pipeline was laid and so it isn't known if age could have had something to do with the incident.