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More Than 10,000 Americans Under Evacuation Order After Explosion Rocks US

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County officials ordered a brief evacuation of nearly the entire town of Middleton, Idaho, late Thursday morning after a gas pipeline explosion.

A worker ruptured a 22-inch pipeline with an excavator, the Associated Press reported, leading to the order to evacuate the town of roughly 10,600 people roughly 33 miles west of Boise.

Canyon County officials announced the evacuation in a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, at about 11:20 a.m. local time.

Within about 20 minutes, the gas line had been turned off, according to a follow-up post, and those within the 4-mile evacuation zone were asked to shelter in place and wait for additional updates.

By shortly after 4:00 p.m., the county announced that all orders related to the emergency had been lifted and declared the area safe.

“The gas company is taking over the investigation,” the announcement said.

The worker who ruptured the line was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries, according to reports.

The gas company, however, claimed that no explosion had taken place, despite social media posts from local residents saying that they’d heard an explosion and then a noise that sounded like “low-flying jets.”

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“There was no ignition, fire, or explosion associated with this incident and the cause is under investigation,” the Williams Companies, a natural gas distributor that owns the pipeline, told the AP.

However, Chief David Jones of the Middleton Fire Department Battalion told the AP, “It was a pretty substantial explosion just due to the pressure in that line.”

“The explosion was felt,” Jones added, “and the gas flow could be felt about a mile away.”

KBOI published pictures of what it called the “remains of an excavator that hit a gas line” and reported that a piece of the ruptured pipeline had been found about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the accident.

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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
Birthplace
Foxborough, Massachusetts
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Beta Gamma Sigma
Education
B.A., English, UNCG; M.A., English, UNCG; MBA, UNCG
Location
North Carolina
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Faith, Business, Leadership and Management, Military, Politics




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