A natural gas pipeline fire in Kittson County, Minn., just across the border from Emerson, Man., raged for several hours Saturday evening and into Sunday morning.
In a statement, TransCanada said the fire began at the St Vincent Compressor Station around 9:00 p.m. CT and was extinguished around 1:10 a.m.
A towering inferno, burning several stories high could be seen for several kilometres on both sides of the international border.
According to Jeff French, chief of the volunteer fire department in Emerson, two homes in Canada, located about two kilometres from the fire, were temporarily evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Twenty-two volunteer firefighters from Emerson responded with eight trucks to a natural gas pumping station on the Canadian side of the border.
French said they were on standby in case the fire burned back down the pipeline into Canada.
Emergency officials on both sides of the border worked with TransCanada to stop the flow of gas into that section of the pipeline.
The cause of the fire is not yet known and no injuries were reported.
