Pacific Northern Gas service not affected by pipeline explosion north of Prince George

A pipeline explosion Northeast of Prince George, near Shelley, lit
up the evening sky in the Central Interior city last night

For residents of the Northwest, so far it's a case of situation normal for customers of Pacific Northern Gas, with the gas provider advising through its twitter feed last night, that it is not affected by a pipeline incident near Prince George.

The message for customers notes that PNG is monitoring the situation and will update those across the system if their operations are effected at some point.

Tuesday night a massive explosion along a pipeline operated by Enbridge lit up the sky northeast of Prince George, with the situation making for call for reduced gas consumption for customers of Fortis Gas across the province, affecting close to 1 million customers in BC.

The Enbridge line feeds into the Fortis BC lines which service communities up and down the Interior of the province.

The flow to the pipeline was shut off shortly after the explosion occurred with the fire finally extinguished into the evening hours. The fire at its peak could be seen from as far away as the University of Northern British Columbia on the southwest side of the city.

A Lheidli T'enneh First Nation community near Shelley was evacuated as a precautionary measure during the early stages of the incident, with 70 residents leaving their homes.

In a statement from last evening, Enbridge outlined that crews were de-pressurizing two natural gas transmission lines in the area to contain the incident, with an investigation to follow.

As part of the process of review, The Transportation Safety Board has dispatched an investigation team to the site of the explosion.

Should the status of the PNG supply change, we will update this item as required.

Some background on the Tuesday night event, including video of the fire from the Northeast, can be reviewed from a range of Prince George and BC media outlets which covered the event.

Pipeline explosion North of Prince George
More details emerge about pipeline explosion
Gas Pipeline erupts North of Prince George
No injuries reported in pipeline explosion near PG
No injuries as pipeline explodes near Shelley, neighbours evacuated
Pipeline explosion near Prince George forces about 100 evacuations from First Nation community
'I thought it was thunder': Gas line explosion near Prince George causes evacuations
Enbridge pipeline explosion forces evacuations near Prince George: RCMP

More items of interest related to gas service to the Northwest can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review