Published: August 29, 2008 11:10 am      

Gas blast

'We just saw big flames'

Stairtown — Flames flashed hundreds of feet into the air and were visible for miles Thursday morning, but no injuries were reported when a natural gas pipe exploded near the Caldwell County community of Stairtown.

Officials said a 36-inch gas line blew around 7:30 a.m. at the Oasis gas plant located off FM 671. That roadway was later closed between Meridian and Bug Tussle.

Within hours the fire was under control, but the blast left a huge crater in the ground.

Everyone within a quarter mile of the site was evacuated.

The explosion was felt as far away as Lockhart, and was only about three and a half miles east of the Prairie Lea School.

Darren Kesselus, curriculum director for the Prairie Lea ISD, said students were not evacuated “under a recommendation of the fire departments that were there that we leave them in place.”

He said a few of the district’s less than 300 students lived in the area that was evacuated. It remained unclear exactly when those residents would be able to return home.

“The air seems to be clear, we have been checking that regularly,” Kesselus said hours after the blast.

He said the Prairie Lea School “is one of the safest places in the area. It’s been here since 1920. It’s not the kind of things they slap together now.”

Fentress resident Jimmy Guthrie said he heard what he initially thought was thunder; but soon learned more.

“It was a pretty good boom,” he said, adding that he spoke to a friend who lives in Stairtown who said his home “shook for about 20 minutes.” Guthrie said his friend lives about a mile and a half from the pipeline rupture.

Sandy Hernandez, who works at the Sac-N-Pac in Fentress on Hwy. 80, said store employees didn’t feel or hear anything until a customer came in and told them the news.

“We just saw big flames,” she said.

Red Cross of Central Texas was on scene to assist displaced residents and firefighters.

Investigators from Houston are continuing their investigation.