Massive fuel barge explosions force evacuations in Alabama

At least three people were critical condition on Thursday after two fuel barges containing natural gas exploded in Mobile, Alabama.

Steve Huffman with Mobile Fire and Rescue said that emergency crews were forced to let the fires burn out on their own due to volatile conditions. A one-mile safety zone and a three-mile flight restriction had been placed around the fire.

According to Huffman, the fires had also resulted in the evacuation of the cruise ship Carnival Triumph, which has been docked in Mobile since it became stranded with 4,200 passengers and had to be towed there in February.

"We were up on a second floor balcony and the sky lit up in orange and yellow," Ft. Conde Inn General Manager Alan Waugh recalled to WALA. " My partner was on one end of the balcony and I was on the other. And you thought it was the Carnival cruise ship first, but then you realized it was a little further from the ship. It sounded like planes above you dropping bombs when it first went off."

Watch the video below from CNN, broadcast April 25, 2013.

Watch the video below from YouTube, uploaded April 25, 2013.

Watch the video below from The Associate Press, broadcast April 25, 2013