At least one person is confirmed dead after a natural gas fire erupted from a major pipeline Saturday morning in Wyoming, sending flames hundreds of feet in the air.
“I understand there was somebody doing some sort of work there with a bulldozer and the bulldozer breached the pipeline,” said Sheriff Jim Alderden of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department in northern Colorado.
The identity of the victim was not immediately released.
Colorado and Wyoming law enforcement and fire crews are responding to the blaze, which could be seen from miles away. The fire started in an isolated, unpopulated area, on a 26,000 acre ranch.
Richard Wheatley, manager of media relations for El Paso Corporation, parent company of Wyoming Interstate says the fire occurred in a “significant” pipeline which services all of Wyoming and parts of Colorado.
Wheatley says the company shut down the 36-inch pipeline to stop the blaze.
The fire occurred on the Soapstone Ranch, two miles north of the Wyoming border, according to authorities.
