Fire still raging at natural gas pumping station in Saskatchewan

PRUDHOMME, Sask. – A fire is still raging this morning at a remote natural gas pumping station in Saskatchewan.

An explosion Saturday ignited the wellhead fire at the TransGas facility near Prud’homme, northeast of Saskatoon.

TransGas is a subsidiary of Crown-owned SaskEnergy, and company spokesman Dave Burdeniuk said last night that an attempt might be made today to turn off the gas that is feeding the fire.

Safety Boss, a Calgary company that specializes in snuffing oil and gas fires, has been called in to tackle the tricky operation.

Burdeniuk has said it appears the flames were sparked during a release of natural gas from one of seven huge underground storage caverns at the site.

He said he was unsure about whether there was a risk of the gas igniting underground, however, four homes in the area have been evacuated as a precaution.