PAWNEE, Ill. — At about 4:40 a.m. on Sunday, April 29, Jim Lederbrand and his wife were awakened by a loud blast.

The couple learned later that an explosion had occurred in one of Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company’s 24-inch natural gas pipelines. Their two daughters slept through the blast.

“I was fast asleep, and it shook and rattled the house,” Lederbrand said.

“My initial reaction was a jet had crashed. I could see the blast through our mini-blinds.”

Flames shot between 300-500 feet in the air, and could be viewed from Springfield, Ill. more than 20 miles away.

“We live about half a mile south of the blast, but when I opened the garage I could feel the heat,” Lederbrand said. “It felt like a heat lamp.”

His first reaction was to call for help.

“It was hard to judge the distance because it was so big,” he said. “I knew it was a pipeline, and I called 911. They asked me if I was sure it was not a plane crash. I said, ‘Call Panhandle, it is a natural gas pipeline.’ I knew because the flames were constant and so high.”

After dressing, Lederbrand went to check on his nearby 60 head of cattle. Ironically the calves were supposed to be picked up by a buyer on Friday, but the buyer arranged a Monday pick-up instead.

“I was not 100 percent sure the explosion was over, I just hoped it was safe. When I got there, my dad (Tom) and my Uncle Stan were there. The majority of the calves had crashed through the fence. I got out the ones that were in the barn. The gates were so hot I couldn’t touch them.”

Surveying the scene a few days’ later, two cows had died, several are not eating, and 12 are still missing.

“Some of the cows have lost at least 40 pounds. We still don’t know about the long-term affects,” Lederbrand said, still wondering how the older cows were going to fare.

The area across the lot where the explosion occurred is charred with large rocks completely cracked in half, ash on the ground and blackened trees remaining.

“The creek was not that deep,” Lederbrand said pointing to the gash among the charred area. “The gases followed the creek and escaped. The explosion took rocks and split them and turned rocks white. There is not any soot and the grass is gone that was tall.”

On the cattle lot, he said, “We had buckets of corn, and it melted the buckets around the seed.”

Thankfully, the wind did not blow the fire toward Lederbrand’s barn.

“I had a barn full of straw. The explosion collapsed my bulk feeder though.”

The actual explosion occurred on ground owned by the City of Springfield. The land was bought years ago in anticipation of building a second lake that has not yet been built.

Farmers who had owned the ground, such as the Lederbrands, were able to lease the land to farm it.

The ground where the explosion occurred was across the road from Lederbrand’s cow/calf operation and is farmed by Don Alvies.

John Barnett, spokesman for Panhandle said, “There were no injuries; one house about 580 feet from where it occurred was evacuated.”

Siding on the house suffered damage from the heat of the blast. A team of investigators from Panhandle arrived on April 29 afternoon. As of May 1, no explanation for what caused the blast had been found.

“Panhandle is an Interstate natural gas company with 6,500 miles of pipeline that extends from the Oklahoma Panhandle to Illinois and into Michigan, Indiana and Ohio,” Barnett said.

“The company supplies transportation of natural gas to large users which could be a local gas utility, the local electrical which converts the gas to electricity or it could be a large user of natural gas.”

Large pipes transport the gas.

“The pipes,” Barnett said, “are 16-36 inches. Sunday a 22-inch diameter pipeline ruptured in Sangamon County. The Pawnee police notified us as it happened and we sent employees to valve sites (on either side of the break) and stopped the flow of gas. The fire then burned out.”

Barnett added that the pipes run at least a minimum of three feet under the ground.

Farmers that have natural gas pipelines in their fields should be aware.

“We have a very active public awareness program and provide information to let them know there is a natural gas pipeline,” he said. “We also have markers so if you have one (a pipeline) you should probably know it.”

There is no doubt that Lederbrand knows he has a pipeline in his field.

The question he wonders is how soon his cows will recuperate, if they will, and where are the missing 12? For everyone in Pawnee, residents are waiting to know what caused the explosion and why it happened.