Emergency crews worked through the night in Wethersfield after fallen wires came in contact with natural gas, sparking a fire that reached the heights of power lines and trees on Wednesday night.
The Wethersfield Fire Department was dispatched to Goff and Wells Road for a structure fire, Wethersfield Fire Capt. Paul Thompson said, but crews determined that wires came down during the storm and one hit a valve that turns a gas main on and offi.
"Arriving fire officials found that we had a natural gas vent fire that had been ignited by the primary wires coming down," Thompson said.
No one was injured, but it was a bit of a shock for neighbors who heard a loud noise.
"All of a sudden, I hear a huge explosion and my window lit up with white and the next thing you know, there's a fire right down our street," Patrick Dowd said. "... It was like the movies. ... It was a huge clap. it wasn't quite ground shaking, but it was pretty loud."
Wethersfield resident Gary Sharkevich said he heard a "loud pop" and "crack" that sounded like "a big firecracker big explosion."
Firefighters sprayed water into the fire as they dug to access the gas leak.
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Crews also secured the scene, evacuated the house and monitored the situation to make sure the fire did not spread to the home.
Connecticut Light & Power officials also responded to cut power to the wires so CT Natural Gas could shut down the affected gas feed, Thompson said.
"It's the wind we watch so the flames don't get blown in direction of house," Thompson said. "...Natural gas, obviously there's always a fire explosion risk associated with it. ... While the fire looks spectacular, it's actually burning off that gas, which puts us in a better position than having an open leak like that so we can see where that gas is going. See how it's burning and we can keep it contained at this point."
The power has been turned back on.
