A BUSINESS which wants to store gas in huge caverns under the River Wyre has tried to calm safety fears after a 1,000ft jet of flame erupted from a similar site in Texas.

But statements made by Thornton-based Canatxx Gas Storage Limited contrast with information coming from Duke Energy, owners of the Moss Bluff site in Texas, where a 200ft flame was still burning from a salt cavern at the start of this week.

Duke Energy said the fire began early on Thursday morning at the plant around 40 miles north east of its head office in Houston.

At 1.30am the next morning, the heat caused the valve structure above the cavern to give way and the 100ft high flame 'increased,' according to Duke Energy, to 1000ft - burning brightly at twice the height of Blackpool Tower.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission recommended the evacuation of those living within three miles of the eight billion cubic feet cavern, but said two other nearby caverns were not affected.

On Sunday, with the flame subsiding, residents outside a one-mile exclusion zone were told they could go home. Everyone else continued to stay in hotels funded by Duke Energy and the fire is expected to finally burn out by this weekend.

Despite reassurances from Duke Energy, a report in the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday (August 24) quoted Guy Grossman of Texas' energy industry regulator, Texas Railroad Commission, as saying there was 'certainly always a concern' that fire could reach the other caverns.

A Canatxx spokesman appeared to back Duke Energy up, saying: "Two adjacent salt caverns did not catch fire and were never in danger of doing so."

But he claimed evacuation arrangements were 'entirely voluntary', and that they had been lifted by midday of the first day of the incident - apparently contradicting Duke Energy.

"In fact there was no need for anyone to leave," he added. He also said: "Canatxx representatives observed the fire at first hand and monitored the situation closely from the outset."

Despite no announcement of the cause of the fire, the Canatxx spokesman told The Citizen: "The leak appeared to be located at a flange between a master valve and an emergency shut off. It was above ground. The master valve in respect of the proposed Canatxx facility is below ground, well protected from fire and other hazards."

He added: "Gas storage facilities, as is explained in detail in our planning application, have to be sited where the correct ingredients are present. Unfortunately they are not found in the Outer Hebrides."

Unless gas storage and people mix, the public faces 'a dark, cold future' he said.

But Jenny Phillips of Thornton Action Group (TAG), which opposes Canatxx's Wyre plan, said the Moss Bluff fire 'underlines' what TAG, and fellow campaign group Protect Wyre Group (PWG), have been saying.

"Whenever there's any kind of situation like that people who are interested in playing it down always say 'well, we'll of course be a lot more careful', but it's just not possible to say that." She added that campaigners are 'very concerned about the lack of detail' in Canatxx's planning application to Lancashire County Council - expected to be decided by the development control committee next month but now put back until at least October. A county council spokesman said an officer's report to the committee was not yet complete.