LAKE WORTH — There was a gas explosion in the 3600 block of Shawnee Trail Monday just after 2:30 p.m. Monday.
Officials said workers at the Shawnee Bridge Project hit a six-inch gas line with a backhoe and caused the explosion.
One of the backhoes caught fire, but the operator escaped with no injuries.
Homes up and down Shawnee Trail shook with the force of the explosion, but almost no one was closer than nine-year-old Jessi Burns.
"I felt like a really big rush of heat come toward me," she said.
Jessi was walking her dog two houses away. She saw the worker on the backhoe react in the moments before the big explosion.
"I saw the guy jump out before the Caterpillar went up in the air," she said. "I saw him jump out because the pressure under the Caterpillar made it go up in the air."
Jessi ran for help. Her family said firefighters were at the scene in under three minutes.
"The reports I've got are that there has been no one injured," said Lake Wroth City Manager Brett McGuire.
He said contractor construction workers had been building a bridge for the Texas Department of Transportation. They apparently hit a six-inch gas line buried next to the road and under the creek.
Workers with Atmos Energy turned off the gas supply and the fire was extinguished by 4 p.m.
McGuire said he doesn't yet know if the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate this pipeline accident.
The contractor responsible for the accident has not replied to a News 8 request for a comment.
E-mail chawes@wfaa.com
