SMRYNA – A fire erupted at a natural gas well site in Smyrna last Thursday evening.
Chenango County Fire Coordinator Matt Beckwith said responders from Smyrna, Sherburne and Earlville squads were called to the Corey Farm on County Rt. 22 at 4:44 p.m.
Flames from the well head itself and, later, a gas rig, were extinguished. Responders left the scene by 8 p.m.
The well is owned by Nornew, Inc. Company spokesman Dennis Holbrook could not be reached for comment.
Town Supervisor James Bays said the cause was either a bad hydraulic hose on the rig or an explosion from the well head itself. “Some are maintaining they heard an explosion,” he said this morning.
Smyrna Fire Department Assistant Chief Paul Lawrence said his unit was first to arrive on the scene, but he would not comment further.
Beckwith said while rig operators were working on the wellhead, completing ‘a nippling down’ procedure, when rocks flew up and struck one of two florescent lights on the rig.
“It was accidental. Rocks were blowing out of the wellhead. We found rock fragments all over up there. It took out a florescent light on the rig and destroyed it. Florescent lights are burning gas and it was enough to cause a spark, which caused the well to have a fire,” he said.
Rig operators attempted to extinguish the fire before calling for emergency support. Instead of blowing water directly onto steel, and possibly collapsing the well structure itself, Beckwith said it was decided to blow compressed air across the wellhead to separate the fire from the gas. Remaining flames on the rig’s hydraulic lines were then put out.
Beckwith said the rig was severely damaged.
Chenango County’s Natural Gas Committee Chairman Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, said the county’s planning department notified him of the fire late Thursday evening. Flanagan said he did not know the exact cause of the flame and referred all questions to Nornew.