The Johnston Fire Department extinguished a brush fire and responders are dealing with potentially hazardous conditions after a methane gas line explosion early this morning at the gas collection facility operated by Broadrock Renewables at the Central Landfill.
The explosion comes a week after the plant was shut down my town officials over safety concerns about makeshift parts and gas lines that were venting untreated gas into the air.
Johnston Fire Chief Timothy McLaughlin said the explosion happened around 4 a.m. at 117 Shun Pike in a building he described as the old cat plant where raw gas is taken out of the landfill.
The explosion occured in the piping going to the plant and "we don't know what caused it," McLaughlin said. "It could have been some static in the lines."
State and local officials, including the local building official, are at the scene and McLaughlin said he expects "high levels of cyanide gas" in one of the buildings because of the black PVC pipe burning.
There are no reports of injuries and the facility was already shut down by the town last week, McLaughlin noted.
This article was updated after first publication.
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