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Monday night's gas line explosion made for some very tense calls to the Estill County 911 line, as directors at the 911 call center estimate they took 150 phone calls within just a couple of minutes of the blast.

They were coming in so fast, a few viewers told LEX 18 they couldn't even get through.

CALLER: "There's an explosion, huge fire. Hargis Road area, near Hargis. It's very large, lighting up the entire sky and woods. Something must have exploded."

Like whatever it was they were reporting, calls to Estill County 911 came in fast and furious.

CALLER: "I don't know if I'm in any danger or not." DISPATCHER: Honey, we don't know what it is either. We're trying to find out, OK?"

If you were anywhere within a 30 mile radius of the explosion, it's likely you saw it too. The county's emergency planner Ronnie Riddell says he was way too close for comfort, pumping gas not far from the scene. "It was a few moments of pure terror, it was scary," he said.

Riddell said never hesitated, as he and the county's public information officer drove straight to work. "I didn't know what to think," said Melissa Jessie. "I think it's the first time in this job we didn't know what was happening."

And the questions came in so fast, they had to call in off-duty dispatchers, who jumped in and answered best they could.

CALLER: "Ma'am, can you tell me with this pipeline explosion if the people on Ironworks Road are supposed to evacuate or not?" DISPATCHER: "Honey, not sure. If you'll hold on I'll try to get ahold of someone and ask them."

DISPATCHER: "Hang on honey, it's crazy. Hang on. CALLER: "I know. i'm sorry to bother you, I just don't know what to do."

Directors at the 911 Center spoke very highly of the dispatchers who handled the calls and commended the public, saying for the most part there was no panic and the callers did their best to follow dispatcher's directions.

The emergency management director says officials went door to door evacuating those within a half-mile radius of the explosion site.