A massive fire erupted at a natural gas pumping station outside of Nashville Tuesday, shooting flames hundreds of metres in the air and rattling windows for kilometres.

Tennessee Highway Patrol authorities said there were fatalities, but it wasn't immediately clear if they were from the fire or from a strong storm that moved through the area.

The fire erupted at about 10 p.m. local time Tuesday at the Columbia Gulf Natural Gas pumping station near the Macon County community of Green Grove, about 65 kilometres northeast of Nashville.

"We do not know at this time what caused it, and we are attempting to get close enough to get some information," said Tennessee Emergency Management spokesman Donnie Smith. "These flames are shooting 400, 500 feet in the air."

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said the station could have been damaged by a line of severe storms that moved through Tennessee shortly before the fire broke out.

Ashley Beff, who lives about eight kilometres from the station, said she witnessed the explosion and said it caused the windows in her apartment to shake violently.

"It was godawful," she said. "It was like an explosion. The city looked like it was on fire."

Kelly Merritt, a spokesman for Columbia Gulf Transmission Co., said the company is shutting off the gas on both sides of the station, which is used to boost pressure along the gas line that runs from Louisiana to the West Virginia-Kentucky line. Columbia is a subsidiary of Merrillville, Indiana-based NiSource Inc.

Merritt said the station is not manned around the clock.