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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Pipeline explodes near Brighton
No injuries were reported from the blaze
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BRIGHTON – A pipeline exploded a few miles east of Brighton Saturday morning, Feb. 14, prompting a massive response from fire departments in six neighboring towns to contain the blaze.
The Washington County Communications Center notified the public on Saturday that it had received reports of an explosion and large fire between 315th and 325th Streets on both the north and south sides of the Skunk River. Multiple fire departments and emergency personnel were dispatched to contain the fire, and learned that the fire was coming from an underground pipeline owned and operated by Enterprise Products Partners L.P/Enterprise Products Operating LLC.
In a news release from Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Schmuecker who is also the county’s Emergency Management Coordinator, first-responders immediately put into action their response procedures for a pipeline incident.
“The pipeline’s emergency response personnel coordinated with Incident Command, securing the affected section of pipeline, so that secondary fires, including those that spread across the Skunk River, were able to be contained, resulting in no injuries or damage to residential structures, and this incident was declared to be under control at approximately 12:57 p.m.,” Schmuecker wrote in his report.
Schmuecker said there is no active threat to the public, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“To protect the integrity of that investigation, no additional details are being released at this time, but updates shall be provided as confirmed information becomes available,” he said.
Jefferson County residents Merlin Miller and his son Eric happened to be flying east of Fairfield Saturday morning when they spotted the fire. Merlin said the two had just come back from Oskaloosa, and had seen many grass fires.
“We saw this and were like, ‘That’s not a grass fire,’” Merlin told The Union, saying the flames were much too large and the smoke was too big and black to be a grass fire.
Merlin said he and Eric were 1,200 feet in the air at the time, and about 15 miles from the fire. Even at that distance, they could clearly make out the large flames shooting into the sky.
Merlin and Eric flew toward the fire to get a better view.
“When we first got there, we could see spots of fire to the north where it had blown across the river,” Merlin said.
They must have been among the first people to witness the fire up close, because Merlin said there were no vehicles around it when they arrived. They circled the fire for 10-15 minutes, and saw sheriff’s deputies arrive on scene and later fire trucks from Washington as they traveled south on Highway 1. Merlin said the fire was in a rural area and the closest structure was a house about one-quarter of a mile away.
At the end of his report, Schmuecker thanked the responding agencies that assisted in the incident such as: Iowa State Patrol, Washington County Emergency Management, including Washington, Brighton, Ainsworth, Crawfordsville, Wayland, and Richland Fire Departments; Washington and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Offices; Washington County Ambulance Service; Keokuk County Conservation; Washington County Engineer and Secondary Roads Department; and the Washington County Communications Center.
“Hy-Vee and Jersey Mike’s Subs, both located in Washington, are sincerely thanked for their generous support of emergency personnel throughout the response to this incident,” he said.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
