(Chatham, Va.) — There are reports to this newsroom of an explosion and fire at a work site on the Anderson Road near Chatham this morning.

Witnesses say they heard the blast about 7 a.m. and that the fire was still burning thirty minutes later.

The explosion is said to have occurred at a site where crews were working to install new drainage pipe.

A resident who witnessed the explosion says he heard a blast that “sounded like a Howitizer going off” and went outside and saw a large piece of paving equipment, which he described as a road escalator, on fire. He said the rig was fully involved and that workmen had formed a human chain and were using a cooler to dump water from a nearby creek onto the truck.

He said the road in the Climax community had just closed today to allow crews to begin work.

There are no reports on injury in the blast.   .