Lightning has hit a fuel tank that resulted in an explosion at a gas station in Fairfield, Ohio on Monday evening. The explosion left a crater 40-feet-wide and 8-feet-deep. According to firefighters, no one was pumping gas but two customers were at the station when the lightning bolt hit. Nobody was injured.
After the explosion, a temporary evacuation was executed near Fairfield's Gas Depot. Witnesses reported seeing a sudden flash of lightning followed by a fireball taller than the trees afterward. Authorities also suggest digging up the other tanks to assess the situation, Associated Press reported.
Vapors and the possibility of gas leaks that might ignite worried locals. Local and state groups such as The Fairfield Fire Department, Ohio EPA and the State Fire Marshal's Office went to check the area Tuesday morning to assess if the incident had adverse impacts on the environment.
"This is certainly an act of nature," according to Dan Bennett of the Fairfield Fire Department. "We had anywhere from 12 to 14 feet of flames coming out of this and we just decided to let it burn. Ironically, the more consumption we have by fire, the less environmental issues we have," he added, according to WLWT5.
"We know that two of the tanks have been compromised. One, about two-thirds consumed by fire. We have evidence that one of the ends was opened on one of the gasoline tanks. So what we want to do now is begin to expose those tanks, identify if there's any residual product, remove that from the site and from that point we'll further excavate and check for contamination," Bennett explained further.
According to investigators, on Monday morning the gas station had a recorded 7,500 gallons of gas in each of its three tanks. It will take days to excavate the other tanks for inspection. As for further cleanup, several processes and agencies will have to take charge, Daily Mail reported.
