An investigation is ongoing into the cause of a high-pressure gas pipeline explosion that lit up the night sky and blew a 40-foot crater into a roadway between Cashion and Piedmont Wednesday night.

The explosion, just west of the Piedmont Road and Waterloo Road intersection, sent a fireball more than 150 feet into the air that was visible to a large swath of north central Oklahoma, according to reports.

Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther said the blast generated nearly 100 calls to the county’s 911 system in a 15-minute timespan.

Cashion Fire Department dispatched 15 personnel in seven trucks to the scene and joined Piedmont and Oakwood fire departments in an all-night effort to control the blaze and then put out hot spots.

Gas company personnel also assisted, including representatives of DCP Midstream, which owns and operates the natural gas pipeline.

Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther also dispatched four deputies to the scene to assist Logan and Canadian county sheriff’s office personnel in diverting traffic.

Deputy Jonathan Riedlinger, who took the picture of the blast crater that appears on Page 1, described it as about 15 feet deep and 40 feet in length.

He said debris from the explosion was found over 100 yards away, including chunks of asphalt “longer than my arm span.”

Kingfisher County Commissioner Jeff Moss came out Wednesday night with “road closed” signs to reroute traffic around the damaged road when the Canadian County commissioner could not be reached.

Moss said the damaged section of roadway is on the Canadian County side of the line and has been annexed into the city of Piedmont, which shares maintenance responsibilities.

Kingfisher City-County Emergency Management Director Steve Loftis also responded to the scene.

The explosion incinerated four Cimarron Electric Cooperative utility poles, interrupting power for about 864 customers.

Most of those households were restored within a couple of hours by back-feeding from another substation, Cimarron COO Jeff Hyatt said.

Power was restored to the last 46 customers by 2:30 p.m. Thursday after Cimarron crews replaced the destroyed poles and lines.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the agency charged with determining the cause of the explosion.

OCC Public Information Manager Matt Skinner told the Times & Free Press Friday that the investigation has just begun.

An apparent rupture in a high pressure underground natural gas pipeline owned and operated by DCP Midstream resulted in an explosion shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday that blew a crater into the roadway just west of the Piedmont/Waterloo Road intersection. Cashion Fire Department, along with Piedmont and Oakwood, worked through the night to control the blaze and extinguish hot spots. The fire incinerated four Cimarron Electric poles, briefly interrupting power to 864 residents.