An explosion and large fire happened near Brighton over the weekend. On Saturday, February 14th at approximately 10:50 a.m., the Washington County Communications Center received multiple 9-1-1 calls of an explosion and large fire in the 2000 block of 325th Street, approximately five miles east of Brighton near the Skunk River in rural Washington County.

According to Washington County Emergency Management, the Washington Fire Department responded to the scene and established Incident Command, coupled with additional fire and EMS mutual aid resources. Washington County Emergency Management assisted with coordination, resource management, and unified command operations. 

Emergency responders identified that the fire involved an underground pipeline. It is owned and operated by Enterprise Products Partners L.P./Enterprise Products Operating LLC. The company describes itself as “one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.” And according to its website, it has six propane terminals in Iowa.

The pipeline’s emergency response personnel secured the affected section of pipeline, so that secondary fires, including those that spread across both sides of the Skunk River, were able to be contained. Authorities state the incident resulted in no injuries or damage to residential structures, and was declared to be under control at approximately 12:57 p.m.

There is no active threat to the public and the cause of the incident remains under investigation.

The Washington Fire Department was assisted at the scene by the Iowa State Patrol; Washington County Emergency Management; fire departments from Brighton, Ainsworth, Crawfordsville, Wayland, and Richland; the Washington and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Offices; Washington County Ambulance Service; Keokuk County Conservation; Washington County Engineer and Secondary Roads Department; and the Washington County Communications Center.

KCII will provide more information as it becomes official.