Medford explosion sparks evacuation, power outage
MEDFORD – An explosion at a natural gas facility rattled residents of this northern Oklahoma town Saturday afternoon.
No injuries or fatalities were reported when an explosion occurred at a natural gas liquids fractionation facility owned by ONEOK in this Grant County town, roughly 100 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.
Westward winds carried a tall, black plume of smoke over farm fields. As flames billowed from the plant, local fire departments staged equipment and crews at a grain elevator on Highway 81 north of the blaze. They weren’t able to get near the plant because of extreme heat and risk of explosion, firefighters said.
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Red Cross volunteers and area churches took water to first responders, and law enforcement officers urged residents to evacuate their homes. More than 20 fire departments and law enforcement agencies set up an incident command center at the Medford Volunteer Fire Department, Medford Police Chief James Shepherd said.
Following the explosion, reported shortly after 2 p.m., power was knocked out in the city limits until about 4:30 p.m., Shepherd said.
Some residents drove around town to get a glimpse of the blaze. Smoke reached higher than the 150-foot-tall towers at the plant, said Keith McClure, who watched the inferno from about two miles away on County Road 950.
The fire didn’t appear to damage large natural gas storage tanks at the plant, though its effects on processing equipment — tall cylinders and other structures — were evident, McClure said.
“In my opinion, there’s less [equipment] standing than there was,” he said.
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Cody Darling, who lives north of State Highway 11, was gone at the time of the explosion. He returned as the flames began to subside later that evening. But the news of the fire spread quickly across the region as the smoke plume grew, he said.
“I have a friend in Alva, about 60 miles away, who said he could see it,” Darling said.
MaKesyd Quattlebaum, an employee at a gas station in Medford, was getting ready to go to work when he heard the news of the explosion.
“I didn’t really know what happened,” he said. “I just heard there was a fire, and I heard some people talking about that, there was a couple of explosions, and that a bigger one might happen. We got ready to evacuate, but outside of that, we didn’t really know what was going on.”
Samantha Munoz was at the station when smoke began rising in the sky. Unlike some residents, though, she didn’t feel the explosion, which some compared to an earthquake.
“I didn’t feel anything,” she said. “People kept coming in, and they said that something happened. [The plant] was engulfed in flames.
“I was confused because people said the whole town was going to explode.”
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Grant County Sheriff Scott Sterling said deputies set up roadblocks within a two-mile radius around the gas plant and notified residents about the evacuation advisory.
He praised the efforts of first responders who came out to help.
“I’ve had dispatchers that were off duty come in, unannounced, and offer to help,” Sterling said. “Most all my deputies have come to work as well, even those that weren’t scheduled.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: No injuries reported after explosion rocks Medford natural gas facility
