Fire crews in Northern Colorado have extinguished a gas fire that shot flames dozens of feet into the air on Thursday. Five people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, according to fire officials. 

The fire was reported just before noon in Johnstown off Colorado State Highway 60 between County Roads 13 and 15.

"Crews have the fire extinguished," Front Range Fire Rescue wrote on social media just after noon. "Roads will remain closed until further notice. Please avoid the area."

Front Range Fire Chief Ryan Roberts said in a news conference on Thursday afternoon that state and local investigators don't yet know the cause of the fire. 

No residential or commercial structures were impacted by the fire, but two vehicles were damaged, Roberts said.

Seventeen units comprising about 35 fire and EMS personnel responded to the fire, as well as additional people from the city and police department, according to Roberts. A reverse 911 call went out for a half-mile radius from the fire, telling people to shelter in place and firefighters went door-to-door, evacuating homes in the immediate area, he said. 

Several witnesses, including neighbors and motorists, described what they saw, heard, smelled, and felt as a result of the fire.

"It's not the house, but they're doing some sort of work there. It looks like it's f***ing caught on fire," Dawn Turner, who shot video of the fire, says off-camera in one of the videos she shot.

"Definitely very hot through the windows of the car as we drove by," Turner said.

Mannuel Amaye was talking to a neighbor when they heard a loud "bang." They went running to the source of the explosion, where he said he saw, "the flames shooting up about 100, 150 feet in the air, and I dialed 911 and got ahold of the fire department."

Amaye said he heard a hissing sound emanating from the fire after the bang that was so loud he couldn't hear another neighbor across the street. He couldn't smell the gas, but smelled the fire burning.

Another neighbor, Angie Rios, also said she heard a boom from her kitchen, ran out, saw the flames, and called 911.

"It was pretty scary. It was pretty hot," she said. "I was afraid our place was gonna catch on fire and our neighbors' trees and just- it was scary, but I'm glad they got it put out."

Several neighbors told CBS News Colorado that construction crews have been at the property where the fire erupted for several weeks.

Front Range Fire Rescue also said Xcel Energy would be working in the area of Highway 60 and Meadowlark Drive on Thursday and said that "a smell of gas can be expected in that area today."

Roberts said Front Range Fire Rescue had been aware of ongoing work on gas lines for the past several days