ELLSWORTH COUNTY— Authorities continue their investigation of Thursday's natural gas pipeline explosion and fire in an Ellsworth County pasture, according to North Natural Gas spokesperson Johanna Dewald.
The explosion ignited a large fire along Interstate 70 northeast of Ellsworth. Northern Natural shut off the gas to the pipeline and that helped crews extinguish the fire about 3:30p.m.
Northern Natural is working with local officials to learn what caused the explosion. In addition, the company will do their own investigation and the outcome will take several weeks, according to Dewald.
This is the company's second incident in just over a week. On July 16, Northern Natural crews were doing work at an underground storage facility southeast of Lyons when something happened with a valve that caused a release of natural gas.
The company evacuated residents within a one-mile radius of the area and closed all access to roads until they repaired damage.