DULUTH — Fiery explosions damaged several sections of a natural gas pipeline in east-central Minnesota and left more than 600 customers without heat Jan. 16 as temperatures hovered in the single digits.
The Pine County Sheriff’s Office said it was “inundated” with calls about the explosions in a rural area west of Willow River shortly before 2 p.m. Friday. Authorities evacuated multiple homes near the fires. No injuries have been reported.
Minnesota Energy Resources said in a news release the transmission pipeline that serves its system in that area was damaged, affecting 630 customers in Sturgeon Lake, Finlayson and Willow River.
Northern Natural Gas, which owns the pipeline and is the largest natural gas supplier to Minnesota, is working to bring “bottle” trucks filled with gas to these areas. This will continue until the problem is fixed, the sheriff’s office said.
A Northern Natural Gas attorney said in an email the site has been secured and that section of the pipeline system has been isolated, with no current threats to public safety.
Because of the extent of damage, it may be several days before service is restored, Minnesota Energy Resources said. It is working with Northern Natural Gas to ensure service is restored quickly, the utility said, and it is bringing in extra crews and contractors to help.
Crews will go house to house to turn off service to the gas meter, the news release said, and customers can help by leaving a light on. Once service is restored, crews will again go house to house to turn on service.
Minnesota Energy Resources delivers natural gas to more than 250,000 customers throughout the state.
