A lightning strike touched off a fast-moving fire at a fuel storage facility in Glenpool, Oklahoma, on Monday morning, igniting multiple tanks of natural gasoline and liquid petroleum products and forcing a shelter-in-place order for nearby schools and businesses.

The blaze broke out around 8:33 a.m. at the Explorer Pipeline tank farm in Tulsa County, when lightning struck one of the storage tanks. Two tanks exploded in the initial strike, according to fire officials, and a third caught fire soon after as flames spread across the facility.

By early afternoon, crews had extinguished the worst of the fire, though at least one tank continued to smolder into the evening as firefighters applied foam to cool it and prevent reignition, per local station News9.

Multiple departments respond

Nearly 50 firefighters and emergency personnel from at least nine agencies converged on the scene, including fire departments from Glenpool, Cushing, Tulsa, Kiefer and Jenks, along with specialized industrial fire teams from Sinclair Refining and Coffeyville Resources, contractor Williams Fire and Hazard Control, and the U.S. Fire Pump company. The Environmental Protection Agency and Tulsa County Emergency Management also responded.

Authorities ordered voluntary evacuations for homes and businesses in a corridor stretching from 126th to 131st Streets South and from South Elwood Avenue to Highway 75. Glenpool Public Schools sheltered students in place during the height of the fire, and West 126th Street was closed between Casper Avenue and Elwood. The shelter-in-place order was lifted by around 2 p.m., and officials said air monitoring showed no danger from the smoke.

LIGHTNING STRUCK A TANK AT THE EXPLORER PIPELINE GLENPOOL TANK FARM RESULTING IN A FIRE. THE LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS HAVE RESPONDED AND SECURED THE SITE.

No injuries were reported. It's not the first time lightning has caused trouble at the site — the tank farm has been hit by at least two previous fires traced to lightning strikes, according to local reporting.

By Monday night, officials said flames were out at all but the one tank still being cooled, with no active fire and no elevated readings from air-quality monitors in the surrounding area.

Tulsa County Emergency Management said it would continue monitoring the site in the coming days, and the EPA's involvement suggests officials are keeping an eye on any runoff or air-quality impact from the burned fuel. Explorer Pipeline, whose system carries refined petroleum products across roughly a dozen states from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest, has not released a damage estimate or said whether the incident will affect fuel deliveries along its route.