By Charles Lefebvre (with files from Alex McCuaig)

Pipeline explosion

UPDATED – Natural gas explosion disrupts services to 50 Cypress County residents

Jan 16, 2020 | 12:11 PM

IRVINE, AB — An early morning gas line explosion north of Irvine has disrupted services to 50 40-Mile Gas Co-op customers.

According to Cam Klatt, manager of the co-op, the outage happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning, and crews are working at mitigating the issue, and waiting for emergency gas to arrive.

The explosion was located near the Clearwater District Hall 23 kilometers east of Medicine Hat with pictures posted on social media showing a large fireball.

The company says they’re hoping to have gas flowing again by 9 p.m. Thursday night.

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Klatt says residents can take precautions to keep their homes warm while waiting for the natural gas to return.

“Make sure you have all of their windows closed shut tight, make sure they’re not going in or out of the house more than necessary, and obviously electric heaters if they have them,” he said. “Make sure when they do use electric heaters to keep them away from any burnable items and in a safe area that they’re not a risk.”

An emergency warming centre has not been established but Klatt says crews are checking in on affected customers.

The Alberta Energy Regulator has been called in to assist in the investigation.