Jun 28, 2018 3 min read

The director of Washington County’s Department of Public Safety is praising the quick reaction of the first firefighters on the scene of a fire at a CNX well pad Wednesday night on Newland School Road in East Finley Township.

Crews from numerous departments were called about 10:10 p.m. to the Morris 31 pad, with the first fire truck arriving five minutes later, said Jeff Yates, county public safety director.

Yates said a worker was refueling frack trucks with high-pressure pumps when there was an ignition and fire. Seven of the frack trucks caught fire and were destroyed, along with the truck being used for refueling and a man lift, Yates said. There also was some damage to an acid tanker.

“When the fire started, the well crew shut the wells off and went to the muster point, where they were all present and accounted for,” Yates said. “Most well sites have a primary and secondary spot where they meet during an emergency. They practice this.”

“The firefighters did a great job stopping the fire quickly and keeping it away from the well pad,” Yates said. “The well pad was never in danger.”

Yates said crews from West Finley and Morris Township fire departments were the first to arrive.

“It was a big ball of fire,” said Steve Emery, West Finley fire chief, of the scene as he and his crews were the first to arrive at the scene. “When we got there, there were four or five trucks on fire. Then there were explosions from tires and maybe some tanks.”

Emery said it is a major loss.

“We are probably talking a million dollars,” the fire chief said.

An emergency response team from the state Department of Environmental Protection also responded.

About 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel ignited, said Lauren Fraley, DEP community relations coordinator. The DEP team did not observe runoff or fluids leaving the site, she added.

DEP staff returned Thursday to gather information on the cause and to get estimates on the volume of material lost, Fraley added. She said they will also be getting information on remediation by CNX and how they prevent similar incidents in the future. She also said the actual wells were not compromised.

Also assisting were members of the county’s public safety department, along with firefighters from Claysville, West Alexander, Lone Pine and Amwell, Canton, Hanover and South Strabane townships in Washington County. Also responding were firefighters from Richhill and Morris Township in Greene County and Dallas Pike in West Virginia.

Yates said the fire was under control in about two hours, but crews stayed on the scene until about 3:30 a.m. Thursday.

The worker refueling the truck had fuel splashed on his face and was taken to Washington Hospital, where he was treated and released, Yates said. There also was a report of an injury to a firefighter, but Yates said that was not true.

An investigation into the cause has begun, said Brian Aiello, a spokesman for CNX.