Kingfisher County officials trying to find source of odd eruptions

By Cass Rains Staff Writer

December 11, 2005 12:20 am

— A portion of county road about 7 miles southwest of Kingfisher has succumbed to a geyser of sorts.
A hole that has engulfed half of a county road is spitting a mixture of mud and water while venting gas into the air above a 5-foot crater the geyser created.
Approaching the crater, a sound like waves crashing upon a rock shore intensifies, thumping to a hectic rhythm and slapping mud and water onto the road above. In the sunlight, vapors of gas spewing from the ground shimmers and the dry dirt road is soaked 10 feet out from the crater.
About 10 yards from the crater, another geyser can be seen, spitting thin mud and gas into the air.
“I’ve never seen anything like this with a distance between it,” said Kingfisher Fire Chief John Crawford.
The geysers have appeared throughout the countryside of rural Kingfisher, with stretches of up to 12 miles between spots, and some as short as a quarter of a mile, Crawford said.
“I’ve seen pipeline breaks, where it bubbles in the ground, But nothing like this,” Crawford said. “For it to just appear in separate areas in the country, it’s unusual.”
The threat of the gas igniting is “unlikely” Crawford said, but a bigger concern is the gas could begin coming up through water-well lines.
“The gas may be part of an aquifer,” he said. “We’ve checked well sites and pipelines — all things are normal.”
Crawford said the initial report of the geysers came in reported Friday morning, and Kingfisher firefighters were at the scene for 10 to 12 hours, along with officials from Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
Crawford said Kingfisher sheriff’s deputies had been dispatched to inform residents of the possibility of the gas coming through wells and water systems. Residents within a two- to three-mile radius of the geysers had been informed and told to check well sites and water systems for gas.
Crawford said he did not foresee any reason to evacuate the area.
Firefighters were planning to use an airplane Saturday evening or this morning to survey the area along the old Dead Indian Creek, where one of the geysers first erupted.
“There’s a lot of acreage out there. That’s about the only best way to cover it,” the chief said.
The areas near the geysers have been cordoned off because the nature of where the gas is coming from is still unknown, Crawford said.
“It’s very dangerous, “ he said. “You don’t know if it’s coming up from 10 feet or 140 feet below ground.”
Crawford said the biggest geyser, located in Dead Indian Creek, had been shooting sprays of water and mud into the air 12- to 14-feet high.
“No one who was at the scene had ever seen anything like it,” he said.
Crawford did not know when the origin of the geysers would be discovered. That responsibility falls to Corporation Commission.
Crawford said it could be a matter of days to a week.
“It’s just unknown right now,” he said. “It’s kind of an odd situation.”

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