At around 18:00 on the 21st, a gas leak occurred at the bridgehead of Tianze Bridge in the middle section of Bianfang Road, Kunming, causing more than 10 fire points along the riverbank. Aided by the wind, these fire points merged into one, even igniting the weeds along the riverbank…… A rescue team composed of firefighters, gas repair personnel, and power repair personnel quickly arrived at the scene to fight the fire. Due to the particularity of the gas pipeline leak, the rescue work reached a deadlock, and the open flames continued for several hours without being extinguished. The accident caused no casualties.
　　Fire points merged and ignited weeds along the riverbank
　　When the reporter arrived at the scene, long cordons had been set up at the two intersections leading to Bianfang Road, guarded by police, and unauthorized personnel were prohibited from entering. Looking from a distance through the cordon, on the sidewalk at the bridgehead of Tianze Bridge, more than 10 fire points of various sizes had merged into one, with flames leaping up to more than 1 meter high at times, burning the weeds along the riverbank with crackling sounds. Rescue workers were seen running around, observing the fire situation and studying countermeasures.
　　Local residents said that at the time they only smelled a pungent gas odor and saw no flames, then heard a muffled "bang," and shortly afterward, fire broke out on the ground.
　　After several twists and turns, the reporter managed to approach the accident scene and met Lin Yuanhui, Deputy Secretary-General of the Kunming Municipal Government, who had arrived at the rescue scene. According to him, after receiving the alarm, police and firefighters immediately rushed to the scene. Upon notification, relevant departments immediately dispatched repair personnel from gas, power, and other departments to the scene for rescue, and reported the situation level by level to the Kunming Municipal Government and provincial-level relevant departments. Gas repair personnel initially determined that the cause of the fire was ground settlement, which led to the rupture of the underground gas pipeline, thereby causing the gas leak and fire. Currently, it appears that the gas safety of nearby residents has not been affected on a large scale.
　　It is worth noting that, according to on-site surveys by rescue personnel, at this gas leak point, in addition to gas pipelines, other facilities such as cables may also be buried underground. "If there are cables underground and they are still powered, rashly spraying water to extinguish the fire would be dangerous. Before we ascertain the underground conditions at the leak point, we have temporarily not fought the fire," Lin Yuanhui said.
　　To extinguish the fire, the leak point must first be plugged
　　According to many citizens, since it is a gas pipeline leak, wouldn't the fire extinguish itself if the leaking pipeline were temporarily shut off? But the gas repair personnel at the scene did not do so. Why? A worker surnamed Wang told the reporter: "If the gas pipeline is shut off directly, it will cause backfire or negative pressure in the pipeline, which can easily cause a gas pipeline explosion and more serious consequences. So after we arrived at the scene, we could only take measures such as reducing pressure to control the fire from spreading."
　　"What can be confirmed now is that the leak occurred in a main gas pipeline. After the accident, the gas quality of surrounding residents may be slightly affected. Our preliminary firefighting plan is: after power repair personnel confirm that there is no electricity near the leak point, we will reduce the fire by lowering the pressure, and then firefighters will take firefighting measures to bring the fire under control. After we determine the size of the leak opening, we will use special bentonite to plug the leak. As long as the leak point is plugged, the fire can be completely extinguished," Worker Wang said.