ONG Working To Determine Cause Of Gas Line Explosion Near Yukon

Emergency crews contained a fire and the area around a ruptured gas line in Yukon Tuesday night. Now, Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG) is looking for a cause.

The explosion occurred Tuesday night in Yukon, and witnesses described the scene as frightening. But for a cause it was almost spontaneous.

"I'm standing on my back porch and I'm looking at what appears to be shooting flames out of the Sunrise Hills addition," said one 911 caller.

"In the backyard there's like flames and smoke," said another 911 caller.

Callers to 911 described the scene off Highway 66, between Sara Rd. and Yukon Parkway, when a gas line appeared to explode around 8:20 p.m. It was around the same time Shelly Kingery arrived home from running errands.

10/28/2014 Related Story: Ruptured Gas Line Forces Closure Of Highway 66 Near Yukon

"Got out of the vehicle and right when I shut the door the explosion happened and I called 911," said Kingery. "It was a huge explosion and instantly I looked up and saw the flames well above the rooftops of the houses."

At the time of the fire, ONG crews were on scene and had been for a while. At 5:22 p.m., crews were called out to access the gas line that had been hit by a third-party contractor. Shelly said she was aware of that situation before leaving her house.

"I smelled very strong gas smell and we saw the workers we assumed were trying [to] find the gas leak," said Kingery.

But while the crews were at work, 15 to 20 feet down the line the fire erupted.

"It was very scary, I mean it was frightening," said Kingery.

The actual cause is still unknown, but ONG officials believe it could have been static.

"We're just glad everything is safe and they got it taken care of," said Kingery.

ONG reported 91 accounts were affected by the fire, and as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, over half were back in service.