Dozens of emergency crews worked through the night to extinguish a fire caused by a gas leak in Farmer's Branch.
Officials said crews accidentally cracked a three-inch natural gas line near the intersection of Oakbrook Parkway and Garden Brook Drive some time Thursday evening. The fire started a few hours later at 11 p.m. when crews were repairing the gas line.
"About 11 p.m. or so, we had an ignition source of some kind," Farmer's Branch Fire Department Battalion Chief Lane Henderson said. "Whether it be static charge, electricity, we’re not sure."
A backhoe caught fire, but the operator escaped without injury. One Atmos Energy worker suffered minor burns and was treated at the scene and released, Henderson said.
"There was one person in the hole," he said. "The Atmos crew immediately pulled him out. That one person was looked at and treated by our medic crew, his burns were minor"
The fire burned through the night, as firefighters did not extinguished it until about 5 a.m. Friday. By the time firefighters arrived, Henderson said it was safer to let the fire burn.
"If we put it out, we have gas that is in the area that we don’t know where it’s going," he said. "So the safest way to handle this is just to put water on any exposures that are around the fire, but let the fire itself burn."
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Henderson said they were prepared for an incident like this.
"Any type there's a gas leak in the city, we have an engine standing by on scene with a charged hose line, just for safety," he said. "Just in case something like this happens."
One Atmos worker suffered minor burns, officials said. Paramedics treated him at the scene.
Atmos Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Altieri said no residents or businesses will be without gas because of the fire.
