'I thought it was thunder': Gas line explosion near Prince George, B.C., causes evacuations

Residentsof a northern B.C. community are beingallowed to return home after a natural gas explosion saw homes evacuated Tuesday evening.

Prince George RCMPsaid anincandescentorange fireball that could be seen for kilometres at approximately 5:30 p.m. PT was from an Enbridge natural gas pipeline explodingin Shelley, about 15 kilometres northeast of Prince George.

Homes within several kilometres were evacuated as a precaution, but people werebeing allowed to return, police said in a news release at 7:30 p.m. PT. There was no damage to anything other than the pipeline, policesaid, and no one was injured. The gas has been shut off.

Police said it was unclear what caused the explosion but an update would be provided Wednesday.

Speedy evacuation

ChiefDominicFrederick of Lheidli T'enneh First Nation said about 100 people from his community were forced to flee, along with people from anearby subdivision.

The explosion happened only about two kilometres from thereserve, forcing residents to quickly flee, he said.

"We sort of trained for it ... because of the wildfires," Frederick said of the speedy evacuation. "Everything was just left behind."

B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional Chief Terry Teegee shared a video of the explosion's immediate aftermath

Resident Megan Clark described hearing terrible sounds from her house, located a short distancefrom where the line exploded.

"I thought it was thunder at first, because it was loud, banging kind ofnoises," Clark said. "I look out my window and I see this huge forest fire so Ithought maybe a house blew up."

Clark said once she and her family saw what was happening, they grabbed their pets and a few belongings and ran.

Enbridge to investigate

Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall, speaking after an all-candidates forum in the city, said the emergency operations centre was activated for evacuees.

"We're very concerned about this," Hall said, adding the focus now would be to keep affected residents informed about the situation.

Michael Barnes, anEnbridgespokesperson based in Houston, saidcrews are depressurizing the gas lines and havecordoned off the area of the explosion for safety.

Enbridge said in a statement that it will be investigating the cause of the explosion. The National Energy Board tweeted that it has sentinspectors to the scene.

With files from Andrew Kurjata, Lien Yeungand Wil Fundal

Read more from CBC British Columbia