Felled Wires Spark Natural Gas Fire

Fallen wires came in contact with natural gas, sparking a fire that reached the heights of power lines and trees

Fallen wires came in contact with natural gas, sparking a fire that reached the heights of power lines and trees in a Wethersfield, Connecticut, neighborhood Wednesday night.

Wethersfield police and fire responded to 843 Wells Road in town and Rocky Hill firefighters were called on standby.

The Wethersfield Fire Department was dispatched to Goff and Wells Road for a structure fire, Wethersfield Fire Capt. Paul Thompson said.

"Arriving fire officials found that we had a natural gas vent fire that had been ignited by the primary wires coming down," he said.

The fallen wires are likely weather-related.

No one was injured.

Neighbors heard a loud noise.

"All of a sudden I hear a huge explosion and my window lit up with white and the next thing you know there's a fire right down our street," neighbor Patrick Dowd said.

"...It was pretty live it was like the movies..... It was a huge clap. it wasn't quite ground shaking but it was pretty loud."

Wethersfield resident Gary Sharkevich said he heard a "loud pop" and "crack" that sounded like "a big firecracker big explosion."

The fire continued to spark at 10:46 p.m. as the flames hit power lines. A wire hit the valve used to turn the gas on and off, causing it to catch on fire.

Firefighters sprayed water into the fire as they dug to access the gas leak.

Crews secured the scene, evacuated the house and are monitoring the situation to make sure the fire doesn't spread to the home.

Connecticut Light & Power officials also responded to cut power to the wires so CT Natural Gas could shut down the affected gas feed, Thompson said.

"It's the wind we watch so the flames don't get blown in direction of the house," Thompson said. "...Natural gas obviously there's always a fire explosion risk associated with it....While the fire looks spectacular it's actually burning off that gas which puts us in a better position than having an open leak like that so we can see where that gas is going, see how it's burning and we can keep it contained at this point."

The Wethersfield fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.
 

Contact Us