An explosion rocks Central Oklahoma. 3 homes were destroyed by a fiery blast in Grady County that could be heard for miles. Two people were injured, and now crews are trying to determine why a gas line exploded. This unexplainable accident leaves 2 homes in a pile of rubble and another is barely a shell of what it was. Witnesses say it's a miracle that everyone survived.
Venita Parker, who lives just yards from the explosion said, "Just imagine that a jet plane landed right next to your bedroom window, that's what it sounded like."
Awakened in the dead of night, Al and Venita Parker rushed to see what happened.
"It hurt your eyes to look at that it was like the sun was all light around here. I couldn't believe it," Venita explained.
At about 3am a pipeline, that transported natural gas to a near by production plant, explodes shooting fire hundreds of feet in the air, engulfing 3 homes. And it was only 100 yards from the Parker's home.
"Got a bunch of guns, important papers, some clothes and a couple calves loaded up and got out of here in case it jumped across the road," said Al Parker.
After many hours, firefighters were able to control the blaze. The line was shut off, and crews pulled out the ruptured piece of pipe from a 30 foot crater just north of Highway 19. Officials aren't sure what caused the explosion.
"This particular piece of line had been inspected in 2007 with no indications that it did have any problems at the time," said Brian Alford the spokesperson of OG&E. "They do happen but they're uncommon. More often than not we do see it when someone actually has dug into a line. It's not necessarily the case with this one."
Mildred Hull was transported to the Integris Medical Center Burn Unit in Oklahoma City where she's in good condition with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. A second person sustained minor injuries.
"I talked to the guy who lived in the trailer on the north side, and he said his wife was burned from the knees down to the back, and it was just from running away from the heat," Al described.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families and we'll be reaching out to them," Alford added.
At the time the rock home was unoccupied, but the other two were. A wonder that anyone made it out alive.
"I couldn't even concentrate because I though they had to have been blown up as hot as that heat was and as big as that explosion was. I feel very fortunate that everyone got out of that deal," Venita concluded.
Highway 19 east of Alex was closed for a while today. It re-opened at about 11 this morning. Fire crews were watching hot spots to make sure that none of the surrounding areas caught fire. The gas line is operated by Enogex, which is a subsidiary of OG&E. They will now take that section of pipe and run tests to figure out why the explosion happened.
