By james art 
Wichita, Kan. (Kwch) – 4 pm update: Nearly seven hours after the fire, the sidewalk, the street and the Steffans Auto Foundation is still burning due to gas coming out of the ground in many places, according to Hatcinson’s fire chief Stephen Bir.
“There is a 10-inch high-pressure gas line at about 50 to 60 PSI, which feeds this fire and what caused everything to happen today,” Bir said.
The crews will continue to monitor the area throughout the evening. Beer said it could take a few more hours to burn residual gas in the lines, although multiple valves are excluded.
Beer said that when firefighters arrived on the spot, they noticed Gas crashed from the ground on Avenue and a main street. He believes that the gas migrates from the street in the building, which led to an explosion.
Beer said six firefighters have almost lost their lives in the explosion. They left the building thanks to the gasometers of their equipment just before the blast.
“As a fire chief, this is probably one of my oldest nightmares – today we have almost lost six firefighters,” Bir said. “The boys came out about 20 seconds … They came out about 20 seconds before the building burst.”
The other two people were inside the auto parts store but evacuated due to the strong odor.
Steffans automatic parts are confirmed as a complete loss.
Beer said that fire crews and gas technicians in Kansas will have to enter all adjacent buildings and shafts to determine that the gas did not migrate underground before clearing the area.
“This can migrate in basements and in other cavities through the soil,” beer said. “We will check and make sure that Kansas Gas and our people pass through each of the buildings in the danger zone to deal with some problems before letting someone return to these buildings.”
Beer said he hoped to cancel the evacuation order around the more perimeter on 20:00 Saturday during another press conference.
“The gas has nothing to mess up and when we have a similar explosion and have several gas leaks, we have to understand this,” Bir said.
No one was injured because of the fire.
1pm update: The crews are still working to suppress a large fire after a building explosion in the center of Hutchinson.
Hatchinson’s fire chief Stephen Bir said around 9:26, Hatchinson’s fire service was sent to Avenue’s gas scent report and a main street near Stefans’ auto parts.
After arrival, the crews witnessed the building to explode. Beer said the fire was nourished by gas from a 10-inch natural gas line. Although the main body of the fire in the automotive parts of Steffans is controlled, the street and the sidewalk continue to burn due to the leakage of gas.
The crews have launched a defensive operation using unmanned fire flows. All urban resources from Hutchinson Fire and Buhler Fire, District 3 and South Hutch were located. The Sedgwick state -owned HAZMAT regional team will be on the spot to perform a remote unmanned gas monitoring.
Dispach informed all those affected by the evacuation, and the warming shelter was created on the 7th and walnut in the army of salvation. Beer said it was an odorized natural gas and the evacuation zone can be expanded from the original zone.
The responsible agencies include the State Patrol of the Kansas Highway, the Renault Sheriff County County office, Renault County Emergency Situations, Hatchinson Public Affairs, Hatchinson’s Water Supply, Hatchinson Police Department, South Huch Fire, Buller Fire Service, District 3 Fire Office, Police Department of South Hut, Evergie, Kansas Gas and AT&T.
Beer said the update would be made at 16:00 on 2222 N Main Street – Hutchinson Fire Station.
Residents of East Hatchinson were asked to evacuate late Saturday morning due to a major gas vacation and a large fire center.
The Renault County dispatcher confirmed that the evacuation order was issued shortly after 11:30 am, affecting everyone around the southern chief and between Avenue A to Avenue F between the streets of Adams and Plum.
The city of Hatchinson said the displaced residents could find refuge in the army of salvation of the 7th and walnut.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.
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