Homes evacuated due to explosion at ONEOK Gas Plant in Oklahoma

WASHINGTON (TND) — An explosion erupted at the ONEOK Gas Plant near Medford, Oklahoma, on Saturday.

There is an active incident at the plant south of town, and we are asking all residents south of Main Street to evacuate your homes and go to the Medford public school building," the Grant County Sheriff's Office noted on Facebook.

Videos and photos that were taken at the scene show flames and a large plume of smoke.

Police said all residents south of Main Street in Medford were being evacuated and asked the public to avoid any travel into or through Medford on Highway 81.

"If you live south of Highway 11 you need to leave your location," according to the post, which also noted that the evacuation zone around ONEOK "is a two miles radius at this time."

Police said the fairgrounds building in Pond Creek is open for people to seek refuge.

Authorities also said 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
• If you need further information, contact Micah Barr with OneOK at 405-269-6991
• Thank you for your patience as emergency services and OneOK continues the process of determining how to effectively and safely resolve this incident

Police said the evacuation will remain in place until at least 12 p.m. ETD on Sunday.

Brad Borror, who is a manager of communications at ONEOK, released a statement.

Earlier today there was an incident at ONEOK’s Medford natural gas liquids fractionation facility," Borror said. "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."

This is a developing story.