PRUD’HOMME, Sask. – A roaring inferno returned on the prairies Wednesday at a TransGas natural gas storage facility south of the village of Prud’homme, Sask.
Late on Monday night, crews managed to shut a valve near the blaze to reduce the 18-metre flames to just under four metres above the ground.
“Reducing the gas flow from the original fire, that took about 60 hours,” said Dave Burdeniuk, SaskEnergy/TransGas spokesman.
Just after 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a wellhead failed due to severe heat damage following the initial gas release and fire which started on Oct. 11.
As a result of the wellhead failure, a large fire reignited directly out of the underground storage cavern.
TransGas immediately evacuated all area residents for a second time and moved all personnel and contractors off site. Officials say this scenario was considered and a plan was in place to address such a situation.
No injuries have been reported.
With the assistance of the fire suppression firm Safety Boss, TransGas will now attempt to cap the cavern by installing a new wellhead with a crane.
“If it takes another 24 hours, even if it takes beyond that, we want to make sure this is done safe… We know where the gas is going, the fire is going straight up, there is no danger for the fire spreading,” said Burdeniuk.
It is unknown when this procedure will take place.
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