About 30 fire-fighters from five stations around Johannesburg battled the blaze.
After almost six hours, Johannesburg fire-fighters managed to extinguish a blaze in City Deep this morning.
The fire was caused by an Egoli Gas pipeline explosion along Vickers road, emergency services said.
The fire began at 10:30pm on Tuesday. It burned as though it was an oil rig fire with flames up to 10 meters high.
"Fire-fighters said this was their first call in many years where flames as high as that was caused by a gas explosion," spokesman Percy Morokane said.
"They are now spraying cold water onto the pipeline in order to cool it down."
Morokane said it appeared that one of the connectors on the pipeline leaked and that led to the explosion.
About 30 fire-fighters from five stations around Johannesburg battled the blaze.
"It was a pretty hazardous operation, complexed and delicate. There were concerns after initial impact assessments that if technicians closed the pipeline off, it may have lead to another explosion.
"This was quite the inferno...thankfully it did not spread, our fire-fighters did an exceptional job."
No injuries were reported.
"Everything is now left to Egoli Gas to understand what went wrong," he said.
Fire rages for 6 hours in Joburg
About 30 fire-fighters from five stations around Johannesburg battled the blaze.
After almost six hours, Johannesburg fire-fighters managed to extinguish a blaze in City Deep this morning.
The fire was caused by an Egoli Gas pipeline explosion along Vickers road, emergency services said.
The fire began at 10:30pm on Tuesday. It burned as though it was an oil rig fire with flames up to 10 meters high.
"Fire-fighters said this was their first call in many years where flames as high as that was caused by a gas explosion," spokesman Percy Morokane said.
"They are now spraying cold water onto the pipeline in order to cool it down."
Morokane said it appeared that one of the connectors on the pipeline leaked and that led to the explosion.
About 30 fire-fighters from five stations around Johannesburg battled the blaze.
"It was a pretty hazardous operation, complexed and delicate. There were concerns after initial impact assessments that if technicians closed the pipeline off, it may have lead to another explosion.
"This was quite the inferno...thankfully it did not spread, our fire-fighters did an exceptional job."
No injuries were reported.
"Everything is now left to Egoli Gas to understand what went wrong," he said.
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