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Residents forced to evacuate after fire at western Pa. gas well pad

As many as 20 homes were evacuated after a fire broke out early Saturday at a Hilcorp Energy natural gas well pad in western Pennsylvania.
No injuries were reported. The fire in Shenango Township was the second incident at a Hilcorp site in Mercer County this month.
More from The Sharon Herald: 

A resident reported seeing 50-foot-high flames around 4 a.m., but there were no reports of an explosion, as was the case when a tank caught fire Aug. 15 at Hilcorp’s Pew Road site in Jefferson Township.
That mishap was called “a freak thing” by Jefferson Township police Chief Jeff Lockard, who cautioned residents not to panic.

The cause of Saturday’s fire was undetermined Saturday afternoon, and Hilcorp is investigating it, Justin Furnace, Hilcorp’s corporate manager for external affairs, said in a statement.
“A separator is used to separate oil, gas and water. This piece of equipment was housed in a metal building at the edge of the well pad. The fire was short in duration and confined to the separator,” Furnace said in the statement.

In February, a Chevron natural gas well exploded in Greene County, killing a worker. Last month, the state Department of Environmental Protection reported the fire was likely caused by human error. 

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