A major gas line has exploded in Sissonville, West Virginia, officials told CNN.
Several structures in the area are on fire, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said.
Carper said it was "sounding like a jet engine" as the fire raged. At this time, no injuries have been reported.
The explosion has caused I-77 at the Charleston split to be shut down in the north direction, West Virginia's Department of Transportation reported on their Twitter account.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to investigate the explosion and subsequent fire.
A cause was not immediately clear.
CNN iReporter Ryan Dunlap, 28, sent video from the scene, showing flames and smoke in a wooded area.
"We're about a mile away from it. It sounded like an airplane was flying over the roof," he said. "It damaged the Interstate. It's melted. They have all the roads closed down in the area. I had to take the back way home."
iReport: Explosion "sounded like an airplane was flying over the roof."
Get a grip. This was natural gas and nobody is paying high rates for that.
Clearly this never would have happened if the industry was just allowed to regulate itself.
Yup. And you just know they are going to pass this on to the consumer.
Privatize profits, Socialize losses.
Let's just shut down all if the energy industries and all move back into the caves.
there is something strange going on here in the video the police are hiding something at first the police were very close to the fire then he rushed up to the camera then it looks like he is trying to block the camera man from filming the fire bye blocking the cameras view with the rear of his police car.anybody notice it in the video or am i jus seeing things here?
Stacy. I will say a prayer for you. I think the police officer up close realized the better part of valor was to move away. A fire like that is going to be as hot as putting your hand in the flame of your stove.
Wow - lots of morons commenting on this article.
Indeed.
Surely the right will blame this on Obama, everything else is his fault so why not this?
You have it all wrong. It is Bush's fault.
It's actually Reagan's fault. The pipeline was laid back in the 80's.
Sorry Jim, usually you libs love to lay blame on everyone prior. Guess now you will lose the scapegoats and actually have to take responsibility. But, lets try to stay on topic.....
Pipelines are totally safe, just ask the backers of the XL Pipeline. They may spill more than the Exxon Valdez annually but they are safe. Just ask the Koch brothers who make billions off oil and care little about Americans, they will tell you it is totally safe.
Natural gas – it may be relatively clean and relatively inexpensive, but it is in no way safe. They are now looking to convert semi fleets to operate on LNG when they can't even keep peoples houses from blowing up regularly from gas leaks. How long do you think it will be until one of those new LNG semis blows up and takes out six lanes of traffic? Heck even in a controlled industrial setting it isn't safe, look up the gas explosion that leveled an electrical generating plant under construction in CT a few years ago.
You obviously know nothing about the differences between LNG and CNG. You do know that they are different, right?
Liquified vs. compressed is the only difference. Perhaps you are confusing LNG with LPG?
Do your homework, LNG actually has a very controlled burn rate, not explosive like CNG, LPG or a HP gas pipeline. It burns slowly from the outside of the vapor cloud to the inside. Tankers carrying gasoline are potentially more dangerous, perhaps you should lobby to have those taken off the road, i'm sure you'd gladly pay the extra price at the pumps.
My wife has gas and it is no way safe
Mine too!!
LOL.....my husband has gas and has been known to clear a room on occation!! It goes both ways, so don't blame it all on your wife!!
This is why we shouldn't rush into the Keystone Pipeline.
And since there have been car accidents we should all just ride horses, right?
I think it may have been hippies. Hippies or Mexicans.
Mexicans eat lots and lots of beans. That is why Mexico has tremendous gas reserves.
I bet it was the kin of Jedd Clampet out shooting for some food.
While many joke about this, instead let's remember that many residences/ businesses have been suddenly torched and that probably WV's people have suffered fatalities! God help them and help us to be careful/watchful of our infrastructure! Who is responsible and how can these explosions be kept from happening again?
Was this an accident or a terrorist attack?
If I was a terrorist, I would be doing little test runs to learn how the enemy responds to small events. That might give me some insight as to what I could expect if there was a big event. All the better to do my planning.
The gas company did it to cash in on policy
yet another explosion. more fatalities. another wild guess-any FRACKING going on around that neck of the woods?
hello? is any one out there?