Cover Photo: North Central and Central WV Working Fires

Ten Local Fire Departments Extinguish Fire on Noble Energy’s Shirley 1 Pad

From an Article by Fred Connors, Wheeling Intelligencer, October 16, 2014

Alma, WV – Fire departments from four counties responded to a gas well pad fire Wednesday on WV Route 18 near Centerville.

Tyler County EMA Director Tom Cooper said today, Tyler County dispatch received a cell phone call at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday in which the caller reported a well pad fire near the WV Division of Highways facility on WV Route 18.

“The caller said all workers were safely evacuated from the pad and then we lost the phone connection,” he said. “Tyler County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and verified that flames could be seen at the top of the hill.”

Cooper said (15) fire department (trucks) from Tyler, Wetzel, Pleasants and Doddridge counties responded. They extinguished the flames by 2 a.m. and no injuries were reported.

“The well site turned out to be Shirley One owned by Noble Energy,” he said.  ”Any estimate of damage will have to come from Noble Energy.” The site is one of two on WV Route 18 (a few miles south of Centerville).

Cooper said the call presented a particular problem for the Shirley Volunteer Fire Department. “As they were leaving the site, they broke an axle on the steep gravel road and had to call for a wrecker,” he said.

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Notes:

1. From the Charleston Gazette:  The company told state officials that a piece of equipment caught fire during “flowback operations,” when liquids flow back to the surface after the hydraulic fracturing of a well.

2. The fire response activity was monitored on the “North Central and Central WV Working Fires” community page on Facebook.  The responding fire companies were Alma, Greenwood, McCllelan, Middlebourne, Paden City, Pennsboro, Shirley, Sistersville, St. Marys, and West Union.  Ellenboro was on standby.