Flames are out at a gas facility northeast of Saskatoon nearly one week after an explosion sparked the blaze.
Crews worked throughout Friday night to cap a well at the TransGas natural gas pumping station near Prud’homme. A fire retardant was sprayed on the flames as workers lowered a new wellhead onto one of seven underground caverns at the site.
“Water cannons kept the workers safe as they bolted the wellhead into place,” TransGas and SaskEnergy spokesperson Dave Burdeniuk told CTV in an email Saturday.
“The fire is out and no gas is flowing from the cavern.”
Workers shut off gas flow once the wellhead was installed.
Burdeniuk said the final step before 13 residents can return to their homes in the area is to insert a safety plug into a steel casing below the wellhead.
“That will seal the cavern and then we will feel the situation has been secured. Only once it's secure will we lift the evacuation order.”
He was unsure when the safety plug would be installed.
The fire, which saw flames reach as high as 75 metres, started last week when there was a release of gas at the wellhead from the cavern. The caverns, Burdeniuk said, are used to store natural gas for the winter when demand for heating is greater.
The caverns are about a kilometre-and-a-half down and are carved with water in underground salt deposits. Each cavern is about as tall as a 12-storey office building.
Burdeniuk informed media this week SaskEnergy did not expect its rates to be affected by the blaze.
Gas stored in the station as well as facilities and equipment on site are insured, he said.
--- with files from the Canadian Press
