Major flare-up at Prud'homme, Sask., gas fire

Firefighters have lost some ground after a massive flare-up at the gas fire inPrud'homme, Sask.

The fire that started at the TransGas storage facility on Saturday is "contained", according to Dave Burdeniuk, spokesman for TransGas/SaskEnergy.

However, while theflames werefour metres high yesterday, they're closer to 76 metres today, he said.

That's a high as the McCallum-Hill towers in downtown Regina.

At 7 a.m. CST,one of the valves on a natural gas well failed because of severe heat damage and itcouldn'tbe turned off.

Flames aren'tcoming out the side of the well head likebefore. Instead, they'recoming from the pipe that leads from the surface to the cavern underground, Burdeniuk said.

Crews are working on installing anew well head, he said.

Thirteenpeople who live nearby have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Thatorder comes one day after they were allowed to return home.

Prud'hommeis about 87 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.