Several people were hospitalized with severe burns and one person was killed in a Colonial pipeline explosion on October 31 in Shelby County, AL. The SkyBama.com video above shows the magnitude of the explosion which occurred at around 3 p.m.
A contract crew of nine was working to prepare the area for a new section of pipeline to replace a segment where a rupture occurred in September. Since the rupture, the pipeline, which moves fuel from Texas to the Atlantic Coast, has been operating with a bypass.
During the work performed yesterday, a track hoe hit the pipeline, investigators said, but they do not yet know what ignited the fuel touching off the explosion that sent flames shooting 100 feet into the air and thick, black smoke billowing into a towering plume that could be seen for miles.
Fueled by severe drought conditions, yesterday’s explosion set off wildfires that burned more than 30 acres of land. An evacuation zone with a three-mile radius from the blast site was established.
Injured crew members were airlifted and transported by ambulance to the hospital. Four of them were admitted to UAB’s Trauma Burn Intensive Care Unit in Birmingham. One crew member was pronounced dead at the scene.
Colonial Pipeline Co., based in Alpharetta, GA, operates tankers, fueling stations and one of the nation’s largest networks of underground pipelines which covers 5,500 miles. A massive leak in a section of the pipeline in Shelby County was discovered in September about a mile from the blast site. It was the company’s largest leak in 20 years spilling more than 252,000 gallons of gas before it was discovered by a mining inspector employed by a different company on September 9. Investigators have not yet determined the cause or the exact amount of gasoline that was leaked.
Sources:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/colonial-pipeline-shut-following-fire-in-alabama-1477954202
http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-01/explosion-in-alabama-shuts-gas-pipeline-shortages-possible