Gas lines near a regulating station in the Belle Hollow area caught fire Wednesday morning, sending flames leaping into air, according to emergency responders and the state officials.
Belle Fire Chief Chris Fletcher estimated flames reached 60 to 80 feet high by the time emergency crews reached the site of the gas regulator station on Maple Road, on the hillside above Belle.
The fire was reported at about 6:30 a.m., according to a Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatcher, and was under control by 8:45 a.m.
It was unclear Wednesday how the fire started or what gas company owned the lines involved in the incident.
The location of the fire was a transfer point for numerous gas gathering lines owned by Cabot Oil and Gas, Energy Corporation of America and Columbia Gas Transmission, according to company officials and staff at the state's Public Service Commission. All of those companies feed gas into Mountaineer Gas's distribution system at the regulator station.
According to Susan Small, the PSC's director of communications, the gas lines that caught fire were pressurized to around 700 pounds per square inch. A gathering line from a gas well can be pressurized anywhere between 20 to 1,500 pounds per square inch, Small said.
Fletcher said that several gas companies responded but that Mountaineer and Energy Corporation of America seemed to be taking the lead.
Jennifer Vieweg, spokeswoman for Energy Corporation of America, said company officials don't know the cause of the fire but are investigating.
Moses Skaff, spokesman for Mountaineer Gas, said company employees were on scene, but they weren't sure the fire was caused by Mountaineer's lines at the station.
Skaff and emergency officials said no injuries were reported as a result of the fire. No homes were damaged by the blaze, and Mountaineer's gas services in the area were not interrupted.
Small said there would be a full investigation into what caused the fire, but it was unclear which agency would be handling that investigation yet.
If the fire is found to be caused as a result of Mountaineer's lines, Small said the PSC's Gas Pipeline Safety Division would be following up. But if the fire started as a result of one of the other three companies, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration would handle it.