Natural Gas Line Explodes, Sends Up Fireball Near Kalama No One Hurt In Second Northwest Pipeline Break, Blast In 2 Nights

A natural gas pipeline exploded into flames in a rural area near Kalama on Sunday night, sending up a fireball that lit up the night sky across much of southwest Washington.

It was the second break in two days in a Northwest Pipeline Corp. line in Washington state. Saturday night, a fireball lit the sky at the other end of the state near the border with Canada.

No one was hurt.

“We do have control of it. It should be out in minutes,” said Sgt. Charlie Rosenszweig of the Cowlitz County sheriff’s office, who was among numerous fire and emergency people at the scene.

The glow in the sky could be seen across the Columbia River in Oregon. A big plume of smoke rose from the area about an hour after the 6:30 p.m. explosion.

“My daughter’s house is right next to it. It knocked her on her butt. She just grabbed her purse and ran out the door,” said a woman who did not want her name used.

Authorities closed the Interstate 5 freeway at Kalama, said Kathy Conrad of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

A campground on Kalama River Road near the fire was evacuated, said Cathy Batchelor of the Cowlitz County emergency management department. She said the area was not crowded but she did not know the number of people involved.

Northwest Pipeline representatives did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

The Sunday blast occurred on Kalama River Road in a rural area south of Kelso and north of Kalama, east of Interstate 5, said dispatcher Tracy Eaton-Collins of the Cowlitz County sheriff’s department.

The previous night, a Northwest Pipeline Corp. gas line ruptured and exploded in a remote area near Everson, Wash., about five miles south of the border with Canada.

Investigators Sunday were inspecting that break and a neighboring pipeline to check for the cause of the Everson blast. The explosion rattled windows in homes miles away and sent flames shooting 300 feet.

The Everson fire was visible up to 40 miles away in British Columbia and the explosion could be heard 12 miles to the southwest in Bellingham.

The blast came from a high-pressure pipeline in a sparsely populated area just outside Everson, said John Nicksich, a spokesman for Northwest Pipeline Corp., which owns the pipeline.

“We don’t know the cause and we may not for some time,” Nicksich said Sunday from company headquarters in Salt Lake City.

xxxx