Lightning Strike Ignites Gas Line In Oswego
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A lightning strike Tuesday night in Oswego was blamed for an explosion and fire in an underground gas line.
Lightning struck around 11 p.m. near Juniper Street and Hemlock Lane, according to Oswego Fire Protection District Chief Mike Veseling.
At first, it was thought power lines or a transformer had been hit.
"A stop sign, it appears, was hit by lightning, and the stop sign then ignited an underground natural gas line; and it's in a new subdivision. There's no buildings, no structures, anything within about 150 or 200 feet, so it was isolated. It was relatively safe. We don't extinguish underground gas lines like that," Veseling said.
The chief said it's unusual, but not unheard of for a lightning strike to cause such problems by traveling underground.
"It's oftentimes something that occurs that a lightning bolt will hit a tree, for instance, and travel the root system of the tree out to other areas," Veseling said.
All firefighters could do was watch and wait for Nicor to isolate the line and shut off the gas.
"There was quite a fire all the way until this morning when the gas was shut down. Probably flames of anywhere from 12 to 20 feet in the air, and so it was like a big torch just burning in the ground," Veseling said.
Nicor shut off the gas about eight hours later.