What happened

A lightning strike during severe weather ignited a storage tank at Explorer Pipeline's tank farm in Glenpool, Oklahoma, near Highway 75 and West 126th Street, with fire spreading to a total of three of the facility's 31 tanks, all holding natural gasoline. Explorer Pipeline CEO Mark Hurley said the company "strongly suspect[ed] it was due to a lightning strike." No injuries were reported. Glenpool Fire Chief Paul Newton said crews expected the fire to burn for several hours while they focused on containment, using double dikes to keep firefighting water and foam on site; Jenks Fire Department covered other Glenpool calls while local crews remained at the tank farm. Authorities closed 126th Street South between Casper Avenue and Elwood, recommended a voluntary evacuation for nearby residents, and Glenpool Public Schools issued a shelter-in-place order that was lifted around 2pm the same day after air-quality monitoring showed no ground-level hazards. EPA's response log says local power lines and the pipeline feeding the affected tank were shut down during the emergency response; it does not establish the separately claimed precautionary halt at a neighbouring Phillips 66 facility. The fire was extinguished by that evening, with foam application continuing afterward to cool the tanks; cleanup was led by Williams Fire and Hazard Control and U.S. Fire Pump. An identical lightning-triggered tank fire occurred at the same facility in June 2006. This was an accidental industrial incident, not an attack.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.