00:52 Colonial Pipeline Expected to Reopen on Sunday Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari gives an update on the most recent Colonial Pipeline crisis that has killed one person and injured five.

At a Glance Officials with Colonial Pipeline have announced they will restart the gas pipeline that exploded.

The blast occurred in Shelby County, Alabama, sending fire and smoke high into the air.

Reports say one person was killed and as many as seven people were seriously injured by the blast. Officials with Colonial Pipeline announced they will reopen the gas pipeline that exploded in Shelby County, Alabama, last week, leaving at least one person dead.

A small fire remaining at the site was extinguished overnight Thursday while preparatory work was being completed, according to a release from the company. Operations to clear residue from the pipeline began Friday morning and, once the removal is complete, the affected line segment will be replaced. The new segment will be tested upon installation.

The company's current projection for the restart is Sunday afternoon.

The release also states that no observable impacts have been noticed on the nearby waterways or drainage paths. Sediment and surface water samples have been collected for evaluation and air monitoring is also continuing to ensure the workers' safety.

The explosion occurred after a dirt-moving track hoe struck the pipeline and ignited gasoline, killing Anthony Lee Willingham and injuring several others. Residents of several homes were forced to evacuate in Helena and took place just five miles west of a recent Colonial Pipeline gasoline leak , according to AL.com.

(MORE: Colonial Pipeline Restarted After Leak )

The fire prompted pipeline officials to shut down the pipeline that runs from Houston to New York for the second time in two months, according to a statement posted on Colonial's website.

Reuters reported that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told reporters that a crew of nine was working on the pipeline system at the time of the explosion .

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Friday that it has opened an investigation into the pipeline rupture. Thursday a team of five investigators arrived at the site and they expect to be there for several days conducting interviews, documenting the site and surrounding area, and collecting physical evidence.

They also plan to travel to Colonial's Alpharetta, Georgia, office to speak to operations and engineering staff, review the control room operations, and collect data and documents.

Fears of rising gas prices mounted two days after the blast. Gas prices have risen 7 cents in Georgia and 3 cents in Tennessee, AAA representative Garrett Townsend told the Associated Press.

Restarting the line this weekend should help ease concerns about gasoline supply in the Southeast, he added.

Occasional outages are possible at some unbranded gas stations, however, as long as service is restored Sunday, the problem should not be as dire as it was during the pipeline's first incident, in which prices surged 28 cents in Georgia and 17 cents in Tennessee.

In an effort to stave off gas shortages, Bentley declared a state of emergency , which eased restrictions on gasoline truck drivers and allowed them to drive more hours.

Helena Mayor Mark Hall told weather.com that the incident occurred in a rural area just outside the city of Helena but city officials will continue to monitor the situation.

Hall said the situation at the blast site continues to improve and Colonial officials have elected to allow the fuel remaining in the damaged line to burn off.

"I am deeply saddened by the death of one of the construction workers and continue to pray for the other workers who were injured by the blast," Helena Mayor Mark Hall told weather.com.

Continuing fires in the drought-stricken area hampered officials' efforts to fully assess the damage.

Alabama state interim Forester Gary Cole told weather.com in an interview that the acreage burned as a result of the pipeline explosion was approximately 31 acres, but given the severe drought situation plaguing the state, it still made for a dangerous fire.

Cole said the state’s resources have nearly been exhausted, though, due to the widespread occurrence of brush and woods fires across the state.

Karen Buerki, on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 4, told weather.com in an interview that had the pipeline not caught on fire it would be reasonable to say that 3,300 barrels of refined gasoline could have reached the Cahaba River, which is home to a number of threatened and endangered species.

Buerki explained that what sets this incident apart from when a pipeline link shut down fuel flow a few weeks ago is the fact it did not catch on fire at the time, which gave emergency officials more liquid fuel to deal with in the cleanup efforts.

"(The explosion) was much more isolated, so it has a very small footprint in comparison," she said.

There was speculation about how Colonial Pipeline will be dealt with in the wake of two environmental disasters in the same state.

James Kelly, Department of Transportation community assistance and program manager for OPS Southern Region, told weather.com in an interview that there is a current set of pre-enforcement guidelines the company must follow, but everything moving forward will be determined based on the findings of a federal investigation into the incident.

"We try to remain conscious of any current regulations, so I don’t think we will have any increased enforcement, but we will probably look to provide a prevention plan to prevent any such incidents in the future," said Kelly.

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