Authorities responded to a massive fire at the ONEOK natural gas plant near Medford, Oklahoma, following an explosion on Saturday afternoon.
As a precaution, orders were made for everyone to evacuate within a 2-mile radius of ONEOK, and the highways were shut down.
Currently, the mandatory evacuation order for all residents living south of State Highway 11 in Medford is still in effect.
“Effective 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on 07/10/2022, by Medford Mayoral Executive Order – the evacuation order for the residences south of State Highway 11 in Medford has been extended until 12:00 p.m. on 07/10/2022,” Grant County Sheriff’s Office announced on their Facebook page.
“This is to continue the 2-mile radius evacuation around the ONEOK Medford plant. Further updates will be posted when they become available,” the post continued.
ONEOK has made arrangements with the following hotels in Enid to put up residents for the night: Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Springhill Suites, LaQuinta, and Baymont.
In a statement to KOCO 5, ONEOK said, “Earlier today there was an incident at ONEOK’s Medford natural gas liquids fractionation facility. All ONEOK personnel are accounted for, and we are unaware of any injuries at this time. We are cooperating with local emergency responders and appreciate their quick response. Our focus continues working with emergency responders to extinguish the fire and the safety of the surrounding community and our employees.”
The cause of the explosion has not been determined and is now being investigated.
Watch below:
#DEVELOPING Evacuations issued after explosion at ONEOK natural gas plant in Medford, Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/2N52yC0CCA
— KWTX News 10 (@kwtx) July 10, 2022