County sees over 20 struck gas lines in three months
At least 20 calls have been dispatched since June for gas lines struck in the county, with calls coming in daily over the last week.
“Since the beginning of the year, we’d had close to 45 calls for natural gas emergencies,” said Chief Scott Garing of the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company. “Recently, it has definitely increased.”
While lines have been struck in Butler, Adams and Clinton townships, as well as Zelienople, over 80% of the dispatches since June have been made in Cranberry Township.
“They’re installing telecommunications equipment all across the township, and that’s where most of the problems come from,” Garing said.
According to Garing, causes vary from incident to incident though.
“I honestly can tell you that every one of them has their own unique circumstances as to why it’s happening,” he said. “It’s a wide variety of contractors that are working on the sites, so they’re all unique.”
The response, however, remains the same.
“Whenever they hit a gas line they notify us that they hit a gas line, and in that same time period, they usually contact the gas company,” Garing said. “The gas company comes out and determines if the response technician can handle it.”
If the technician cannot, Garing said the company calls out a response team and sets to work controlling the leak with heavy equipment.
Meanwhile, the fire department monitors adjacent homes to try and mediate any risk.
“It’s natural gas that feeds your homes, so the explosive hazard is definitely present,” Garing said. “We have to be cautious of open sources, combustion engines, diesel engines, smoking.”
With a significant enough leak, he said gas can infiltrate homes through their foundations, so the department will also help ventilate surrounding residences.
“It’s just us being careful and cautious to make sure that there’s no hazard,” Garing said. “Sometimes, that means we have to shut down the road if the leak is significant enough.”
In the morning on July 24, portions of Rowan and Peters roads in Cranberry Township were closed after a gas line was struck near the intersection with Canterbury Trails.
“There was a third-party contractor who had damaged the line, and Rowan Road was closed for a period of time until they were able to shut the gas off and then make permanent repairs,” said Lee Gierczynski, spokesperson for Columbia Gas.
Even after the road reopened that afternoon, according to Gierczynski, traffic was restricted to one lane until 10 p.m. as crews completed repairs and cleaned up.
“Throughout 2023, Columbia Gas has seen a number of hit lines from third-party contractors doing work in the area,” he said. “Probably the No. 1 threat to our natural gas system is third-party damage.”
As such, Gierczynski said the company works year-round to encourage the use of Pennsylvania One Call’s call-before-you-dig hotline: 811.
“Most of the time the lines have been marked, unfortunately they still get hit, but calling 811 really is the thing to do because it provides us the opportunity to mark our gas lines,” he said. “And other utilities who might have underground utilities can mark their lines.
“It prevents a potentially dangerous situation.”
Utility companies color-code their lines with flags and markings, after being called, allowing both contractors and homeowners to plan construction accordingly.
“We also have what we call a zero-tolerance zone which is 18 inches on either side of the markings,” Gierczynski said. “So the tolerance zone means that you can’t use any heavy machinery to do the digging.”
While all these precautions help reduce risks for crews and homeowners, Gierczynski said accidents can still happen.
“And you see an increase in the summer months when the construction season is at its peak,” he said.
He maintained that contacting Pennsylvania One Call three days before any excavation is the best way to reduce risk moving forward.
“It’s just educating people about the importance of contacting 811,” he said. “I mean, it’s free for homeowners, it’s easy and it’s really, technically the law to call 811. The more people know about it, the fewer accidents we’ll see.”
