Kentucky pipeline explosion kills 1, injures at least 5

Explosions occur far too frequently in the United States – whether pipeline explosions, propane explosions, or home explosions caused by leaking gas.

Such events simply have become commonplace in this country. Set a Google alert for “pipeline explosion” or “home explosion,” and watch as your inbox is inundated with updates.

Here is a closer look at several news reports about a gas pipeline explosion in central Kentucky on Thursday:

Kentucky pipeline explosion:
1 dead, at least 5 hurt

From ABC News Radio: At least one person was killed in a Kentucky pipeline explosion Thursday morning in Lincoln County.

Officials with Lincoln County Emergency Management said a 30-inch gas pipeline exploded in the area at about 1:30 a.m. local time. One person died at the scene and at least five other people were taken to a local hospital. Numerous people still are unaccounted for, officials said.

At least six structures caught fire and were destroyed in the blast. About 75 residents were evacuated from the area while firefighters worked to douse the flames, officials said.

The explosion occurred in Lincoln County’s Moreland community, between Junction City and Hustonville. A spokesperson for the Perryville Kentucky Fire Department urged people to stay away from the area.

Witnesses photographed the aftermath of the explosion, which sent a fireball high into the sky. Images and video show bright orange flames and thick clouds of smoke in the dark, early-morning sky.

“It was just a big roar and fire going all the way up the sky as far as you can see,” a resident told local news station WKYT-TV. “Our windows were shaking really bad. You can hear the ground just moving and tumbling and rolling.”

Kentucky pipeline explosion:
‘Sheer heat’ kills woman

From the Louisville Courier Journal: A natural gas pipeline exploded in Central Kentucky, unleashing a giant ball of “sheer heat” that killed Lisa D. Derringer, 58, and sent her neighbors fleeing in panic.

“I could feel it as we were running from the house,” said Jodie Coulter, who suffered burns and was one of at least five people injured. “I could feel it, like if you had your hand in an oven.”

The flames that destroyed Coulter’s Lincoln County home reached as high as 300 feet – or as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

Coulter said she tried to report concerns about the line in the days before the blast. Coulter, whose mobile home was about 200 feet from the rupture, said she felt the ground in the neighborhood shake twice, most recently about 10 days ago. The episodes were brief, but the shaking was strong enough to knock pictures off the walls, she said.

Authorities, however, said they are uncertain what caused the massive blast on the 30-inch pipeline, which was transporting pressurized natural gas to the Gulf Coast. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are on the scene.

The explosion and fire destroyed five homes and damaged four others in the Indian Camp mobile home park. There also was melted tar on nearby U.S. 127, officials said.

The flames could be seen throughout Lincoln County, and smoke from the incident could be seen as far away as Louisville, 70 miles to the northwest.

A Kentucky pipeline explosion in Lincoln County unleashed a giant ball of “sheer heat” that killed a woman and injured at least five of her neighbors. It was not the first explosion along the almost-9,000-mile pipeline, which is owned by Canadian multinational Enbridge Inc.

Kentucky pipeline explosion:
Not a first for Enbridge Inc.

From the Lexington Herald Leader: The Kentucky pipeline explosion that left one dead and several injured in Lincoln County was not the first explosion for Enbridge Inc., a Canadian multinational energy transportation company in Calgary, Alberta.

On Jan. 21, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission gas pipeline exploded in Noble County, Ohio, destroying two homes and injuring two people, according to multiple news reports. That’s the same gas pipeline that runs through Lincoln County, according to a map of the Texas Eastern Transmission’s pipeline on Enbridge’s web site. The 8,835-mile pipeline stretches from Texas to New York state.

In 2016, an explosion in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on the Texas Eastern Transmission pipeline burned one person and prompted evacuation of the area about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to media reports.

Kentucky pipeline explosion:
Community responds

From WLKY-TV in Louisville: Several people lost their homes when a gas pipeline exploded in central Kentucky. One person died and several others were hurt when the pipeline burst just before 2 a.m.