FARMINGTON -- The driver of the vehicle that struck a natural gas valve setting Friday afternoon died in the accident, Farmington police confirmed Saturday morning.
The person had not been identified by law enforcement on Monday.
The vehicle was traveling west on Main Street about 3:45 p.m. when it hit a 45 mph sign and then hit the gas mechanism above the ground, said Farmington police Sgt. Mike Wilbanks.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
An explosion occurred almost on impact, igniting the vehicle, a four-door sedan, and a duplex located at the corner of Kelli and Main streets, across from Casey's General Store on Main Street.
The car and duplex were destroyed.
Multiple emergency agencies fought the natural gas fire throughout the night, protecting the area with continuous water streams going from all directions for more than eight hours.
The gas fire was put out around 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Farmington police officers finally left the scene about three hours later, at 3:30 a.m., said Sgt. Mike Wilbanks.
U.S. Highway 62 through Farmington remained closed both ways during that time. Police diverted traffic going west onto Highway 170. On the other end of town, vehicles traveling east were directed onto Clyde Carnes Road in Farmington.
Rich Davis, manager of community and government affairs with Black Hills Energy, said crews worked on a solution to cut off the natural gas from 4 p.m Friday on. Workers finally were able to get the gas turned off about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
Jim Burba was in one of the duplex apartments when he said he heard a loud boom, but he was not too concerned because accidents occur near that intersection. He opened the door to go outside to check on the wreck. That's when he heard a loud whooshing noise that sounded like a tornado.
This loud whooshing sound continued throughout the evening and into early morning as the gas fire continued to rage.
Burba saw cars stopped in the middle of the highway and people were running from their vehicles. He did not see the car in the accident, but said he felt the rush of wind and could feel the heat from the fire. Flames were blazing higher than a nearby electric power pole.
Burba ran inside, grabbed his cell phone, then immediately left in his vehicle. He didn't even stop long enough to get his wallet.
"I thought it was going to blow," Burba said, referring to his own apartment. "Firemen were already on the scene."
Jenna Seward, who lives on Kelli Street, said she was on her front porch when the car ran off the road and then got back on the road. She saw it hit the speed limit sign but did not see it hit the gas main.
"I then saw flames go up over the top of the house," Seward said.
Davis said the vehicle hit a 2-inch valve setting pipe coming up out of the ground. The setting helps the gas company regulate and control gas flow, Davis said. It was connected to a 4-inch high-pressure gas main.
The company's plan was to try to isolate the leak on both sides so no customers would lose gas service, Davis said.
Workers first excavated two areas, one in front of Farmington High School, the other near City Hall, with the plan to use a hydraulic clamp to pinch the 4-inch pipes as much as possible to reduce the flow of gas. Once the flown was reduced to a trickle, then firefighters would come in and put out the fire, allowing gas crews to close the gas valve located between the highway and the burning vehicle.
This did not work, however, Davis said Saturday morning. When workers started to clamp the pipe near City Hall, it cracked, creating another leak.
When the new leak occurred, emergency crews decided to evacuate people in the neighborhoods behind the leak as a precautionary measure. Farmington United Methodist Church opened its doors and representatives with the American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter for people who needed a place to go.
The church provided coffee and cookies for about 20 people who came to the shelter. Some with animals remained outside in their vehicles. Tracy Gregg, a paramedic with Central Emergency Medical Service, remained on site and Dr. Alan Thompson with Farmington Veterinarian Clinic showed up, volunteering to shelter any pets. Fayetteville Animal Shelter also agreed to help out if needed.
People stayed at the church a couple of hours, then were allowed to return to their homes after the gas was shut off.
When the first plan did not work to shut off the gas, Black Hills Energy decided to cap off the lines to stop the flow to the valve setting, Davis said.
Workers welded a sleeve onto the gas line west of the accident site and east of the site. They brought in a four-inch drill bit, dropped in a plug and capped both areas.
"Almost immediately the fire started dying down," Davis said. "The pressure shut off and the fire department put out the remainder of the fire."
Once the fire was gone, crews were able to turn off the gas valve located near the scene of the accident, he noted.
While gas employees were working in Farmington, others were in Lowell building a new setting to replace the one destroyed by the fire. Crews showed up Saturday morning to install the new equipment near Kelli Street and then to replace a section of gas line near the Farmington fire station.
"With each hour temperatures are dropping and we want to have everything up and operating before the end of the day," Davis said Saturday.
The new setting is now up and is protected by steel piping.
Davis emphasized the company's priority was safety for everyone concerned and not to disrupt gas service to customers.
"Because of our commitment to safety, we went a little bit longer and a little bit slower," Davis said Saturday. "We wanted to make sure we did it right."
Black Hills serves about 1,700 customers in Farmington. If the company shut down the 4-inch main, the supply to those customers would have turned off, Davis said.
Wilbanks said emergency agencies helping out during the incident were Farmington police and fire, Prairie Grove police and fire, Wedington Fire Department, Fayetteville police, fire and water departments, Washington County Emergency Management Office, Washington County Sheriff's Office and Fire Marshal's Office, Arkansas State Police, Central EMS and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
"As far as the multi-jurisdictional response, it was exceptional," Wilbanks said. "You put that many emergency services together and it's sometimes difficult."
He said the emergency response was well-coordinated and well-run under the direction of Police Chief Brian Hubbard.
"This was tragic obviously," Wilbanks said, "but I was proud of the way it was handled."
Willie Watts, assistant fire chief with Farmington, also gave credit to Black Hills Energy and its crews for working throughout the night to cut off the gas.
John Luther, director of the county Emergency Management Department, said minimal damage occurred to the area because of efforts by firefighters throughout the night.
He also said the entire response went well because of relationships between emergency agencies within the county.
"We're fortunate in Washington County," Luther said. "We value relationships and treat them as fragile.... This all goes back to a lot of experience and that of partners making a coordinated effort to work together."
Farmington Fire Chief Mark Cunningham expressed his appreciation to several businesses that helped throughout the crisis.
"We want to give a big thank you to Casey's, Dominoes and Firehouse Subs for bringing us food and water and to all the other agencies that assisted us," Cunningham said. "We had a unified command structure that worked real well."
Casey's opened its doors for emergency responders and provided a place for officials to meet, eat and take a break.
General News on 12/21/2016