(WWJ) Livingston County Emergency Management urged nearby residents to shelter in place, close windows and shut ventilation systems after a natural gas line rupture and pair of explosions Wednesday morning.
Southbound US-23 was closed in both directions between Center Rd. and White Lake Rd., just south of Fenton, after the blasts that were felt as far as three miles away.
While the freeway has since reopened to traffic, Consumers Energy and emergency crews remained on the scene into the afternoon, in a field just north of Center Rd. in northern Tyrone Twp. Old US-23 remained closed, as of 3 p.m.
"It appears a natural gas pipeline exploded sending debris everywhere," Michigan State Police said, noting that there were no reports of any injuries.
Fenton Township Fire Chief Ryan Volz told WWJ's Brooke Allen it appears Consumers Energy was doing some sort of maintenance or pipe cleaning, when "somehow, the pipe blew up."
Volz said debris, including mud, dirt, rocks and chunks of the pipe, was thrown 200-300 yards.
No injuries were reported during the blast, as Volz said it was "all about timing" with no vehicles or people, besides the Consumers employees in the area at the time of the blast, around 9:30 a.m.
“It was actually one of those accidents that happened ‘the right way’ and no one got hurt," Volz said.
Dennis Hussey, the golf pro at Tyrone Hills Golf Club, said he and his wife heard two big booms at their home near the golf course.
"The windows started shaking. I looked out the window; I thought there was a big semi truck that blew or something. I didn't know what happened, you know," he said.
"Then I looked out the window, the north window, and just a huge plume of brown smoke just billowing quite a bit. So, I was just watching that, this huge loud noise. And that kind of subsided a little bit and then boom, it happened again, a second one."
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MDOT brought in heavy equipment to remove debris from the expressway and had the expressway reopened in pretty quick fashion.
“It was a pretty big operation and for what it was, yes, it was a pretty quick cleanup," Volz said.
A spokesperson for Consumers confirmed the incident, telling WWJ that it may have been a line break on transmission line. She said there are no more details to release at this time as utility crews investigate.
Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest information.
