No one was injured Friday afternoon when a contractor putting in tile in a field about four miles southwest of La Motte caused a natural gas line to explode.
Joe Kilburg, La Motte fire chief, said flames shot 100 feet into the air after a plow pulled out the gas line around 4:30 p.m. at the Wayne Althoff farm, 25553 216th Ave.
Kilburg said Don Kunde, of Preston, was the contractor who was using tractors to install tile. Kilburg said the tile plow went about 4 feet into the ground and hit a gas line. The two tractors pulling the plow pulled the 16-inch gas line out of the ground, which resulted in the explosion. Kilburg said Kunde told him he was unaware there were gas lines in the area.
MidAmerica Energy crews arrived nearly two hours after the explosion. Kilburg said they shut down the lines in Maquoketa and Dubuque and the fire burned itself out just after 7 p.m. and crews began work to repair the line as La Motte firefighters remained on scene. Twenty acres of cornfield burned.
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