In the early morning of March 23, a vehicle crashed into a natural gas pipeline in Mansfield, causing it to burst into flames. Residents had to be evacuated, and the vehicle’s driver is in critical condition.
According to a news release from the Mansfield Fire Department, the vehicle crashed into the 36-inch natural gas pipeline around 1 a.m., resulting in a massive fire that could be seen 20 miles away.
The explosion occurred in southeast Tarrant County, close to State Highway 360 and U.S. 287, near an Exxon service station.
Fox 4 reported that the driver of the vehicle veered off the road at the merge point of U.S. 287 and State Highway 360. The driver then crashed into the pipeline that sits roughly 50 feet from the road.
Further information from Mansfield Police later revealed the vehicle had been traveling in the wrong direction on the highway at the time of the crash.
“The Mansfield Police Department received a call from Grand Prairie Dispatch about a wrong-way driver traveling at a high rate of speed southbound in the northbound lanes of Highway 360 at Ragland Road,” the department said in a press release issued on Wednesday afternoon.
The impact from the crash ruptured the pipe.
Mansfield Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Smith stated the driver was the only individual in the vehicle, and was airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas with serious burns.
The Arlington Fire Department, Grand Prairie Fire Department, Mansfield Fire Department, and Mansfield Police Department were all at the scene and immediately evacuated residents located within a mile of the explosion. Authorities went door to door. By 4 a.m., all residents were allowed back into their homes.
One of the evacuated residents, JJ Salomon, said, “It was frantic and nervous and a bunch of anxiety all at the same time. But you’re just thinking about your neighbors. I went this way. My wife went that way, knocking on as many doors as we could because you don’t know the severity of it. We all met at the hospital and elementary. Everybody seemed to be okay.”
Firefighters set up a safe-zone shelter in Annette Perry Elementary School, located at 1261 South Main Street.
The gas was shut down and the large fire burned for a few hours before being fully extinguished right after 3:30 a.m. Firefighters at the explosion site said some areas of grass caught fire as well.
A 4-mile stretch of all State Highway 360 and U.S. 287 lanes were closed for several hours, but reopened to the public after 5 a.m.
According to WFAA, Atmos Energy, a North Texas natural gas provider, stated that “crews responded to a report that a driver crashed into an above-ground station in Mansfield.”
In a statement to NBC DFW, Atmos Energy said that the “natural gas to the area was isolated while repairs are made.”
Whitney Hagerty lives close to where the incident occurred. In her backyard, she captured the fire on video. Her husband, Zachery, told NBC DFW that the glow from the fire woke his wife up.
“My wife actually woke me up. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw just bright orange in the room and a vibrating of the house. I could feel the house shaking. I looked out the window and saw flames about 40 or 50 feet in the air. It was very, very disturbing to see it this close to the house,” Zachery said.
He continued, “It was definitely a very frightening situation. My wife even mentioned, ‘Is God coming back?’ Because she thought it was the rapture, it literally sounded like a space shuttle taking off.”
