DEVELOPING: Large explosions and massive fire reported near Willow River, Pine County, Minnesota

[riversedge]

whow. I have camped in the area--lots of lakes with good fishing.
Willow River is between Mpls and Duluth MN.



DEVELOPING: Large explosions and massive fire reported near Willow River, Pine County, Minnesota

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[ProfessorGAC]

1. From What I Read...

...no injuries have been reported.
That seems more luck than great safety engineering.
Those were some huge fireballs.

[riversedge]

3. Yes, huge. Two explosions some distance apart. Anyone know anything about gas line

explosions. Seems odd to have two places explode. But, I know nothing about gas lines.


I wonder who shot the photos??

[MarineCombatEngineer]

5. A little,

if a gas line ruptures in one place, it can cause a tremendous back pressure and rupture a line either further or back of where the original rupture happened.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. I mean... there aren't many people there lol

[ProfessorGAC]

8. And?

Large pipelines always have people doing inspections, leak testing, & secondary flow monitoring (usually ultrasonic).
Save your LOL for a time when you have subject matter knowledge.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Would you prefer they run high-capacity gas lines through heavily populated areas ?

Think about it.

[riversedge]

2. more

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[dickthegrouch]

15. Similar to explosions in Gorman, CA last week that closed down I-5 for hours.

I wouldn't rule out sabotage, even false-flag sabotage at this point. It will almost certainly cause a possibility of more destabilization of MN communities if the weather deteriorates and there's no gas for heating or cooking.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

4. Sabotage, colossal screwup, or a catastrophic failure of a critical component?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[ForgedCrank]

9. What went

through my mind was wondering how long will it be before Trump blames this on either Antifa or Somalians, you know he will.
Its just a matter of how long before he says it.

[Arger68]

10. I grew up about 10 miles south

of Willow River. It's quite rural (and very red), I can't imagine it was sabotage, more likely the ground froze deep enough and ruptured the gas line or something like that. I've never heard of that happening, but I highly doubt it was anything nefarious.

[riversedge]

7. ....Gas flow was shut off around 3:10 p.m., bringing the flames under control although smoke lingered.

🔥🗞The Informant
@theinformant_x
·
1h
❗️⚠️🇺🇸 - A Northern Natural Gas pipeline ruptured around 1:43 p.m. CST on January 16, 2026, in a rural area west of Willow River, Pine County, Minnesota (near Fox Lake, close to Hwy 61 and County Road 41).

The rupture caused powerful explosions and two large fires with high flames and thick smoke visible for miles.

Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. No injuries have been reported, and authorities say nothing criminal is suspected—it appears to be an accidental failure.

Gas flow was shut off around 3:10 p.m., bringing the flames under control although smoke lingered.

The public is urged to avoid the area northwest of Willow River. The incident remains under investigation.

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[SheltieLover]

11. I hope it isn't a supply line!

It's really cold uo there right now!

[Bettie]

13. DH says frost heaves

if it was very cold in the area are a real possibility. His brother has been involved in that industry for decades and that is the kind of nerd stuff they talk about.