GD incident on 2010-09-24 — GA

Operator
Ashburn Gas Dept, City Of
Cause
Other Incident Cause
Commodity
Other Gas
Program
GD
Damage and Injuries
0 fatalities 0 injuries
Property damage (nominal)
$0
Incident datetime
2010-09-24 13:45
Report number
Location
GA, TURNER
Narrative
City of ashburn propane contamination of natural gas system september 24, 2010 event summary the city of ashburn received a call on sept. 24, 2010 at city hall from keith-a-que restaurant reporting that they were having problems with the pilot lights on their appliances. The call was received at approximately 10:30am by amanda bridges. She dispatched the information to the gas department for investigation. James young, bruce burgess, buster felton, and mario byrd performed the initial investigation at keith-a-que, which is located at 249 east washington ave. During their investigation gas personnel determined that additional personnel were needed to determine the cause of the problem. Ashburn gas superintendent roger giddens reported to their location at approximately 11:00am to help determine the source of the problem. During the investigation other locations throughout town reported having similar problems. Propane odor was determined to be present within the natural gas system. At approximately 12:00pm city personnel determined that propane was being introduced into the natural gas system from four 500 gallon propane tanks connected to a fuel line at the hat creek peanut company inc. Located at 465 bussey road, sycamore ga. 31790. Later investigation revealed that this metered service was delivering line pressure to the hat creek per agreement between ashburn and hat creek. Hat creek connected the propane tanks to its internal piping in an attempt to supplement its natural gas supply during high demand periods. The absence of a service regulator at the meter allowed the higher-pressure propane to flow backward through the meter into ashburn's natural gas facilities. Georgia public service commission (gpsc) inspectors josh lairsey and rob pacer were notified of the event at approximately 1:45pm on september 24, 2010. Ashburn city manager ben taylor established a command center at city hall to develop a plan of action with all city personnel. Due to the unknown volume and extent of propane in the natural gas system, city personnel decided to begin shutting off all services throughout the distribution system. Mutual assistance was requested from and provided by the cities of douglas, tifton, cordele, sylvester and fitzgerald. Ashburn confirmed that these cities' personnel have appropriate operator qualifications to perform the requested task. The shut off process began at approximately 4:00pm on friday september 24th, 2010. Acting on instructions from gpsc to report this event to the national response center (nrc) as an incident pursuant to 49 cfr part 191, ben taylor requested that the subscribed regulatory compliance service (srcs) make the telephonic report on behalf of ashburn. On 9/24/2010 at 3:16pm, srcs manager bill defoor called the nrc and gave the required information to kevin williams, who assigned case #955047 to the report.On 9/24/2010 at 6:59pm the valve supplying natural gas to the distribution system was shut off. The shutting off and locking of all services was complete at approximately 3:15am on 9/25/2010. During the completion of the shut-off action line pressure on the distribution system dropped to zero as hat creek consumed the remaining contaminated gas through its peanut dryers. On 9/25/2010 at 9:00am the valve controlling the gas flow to the city was cut back on. As a precaution, locations throughout the system were monitored for 100% gas using (cgi) combustible gas indicators. The locations that were monitored were industrial blvd., central packing plant, and bridges road. When 100% levels were confirmed, crews began cutting on services and relighting appliances throughout the system. The relighting process started at approximately 10:30am saturday morning. At approximately 6:00pm a majority of the services were back on. Where occupants were not available to allow access for relighting, contact information and instructions were placed in a conspicuous location. A post-emergency
Detailed record list
Occurred At
2010-09-24 13:45:00
Year
2010
Report Received Date
2010-10-19 00:00:00
Iyear
2010.0
Report Number
20100086.0
Supplemental Number
15897.0
Report Type
Supplemental Final
Operator Id
Name
Ashburn Gas Dept, City Of
Operator Street Address
P.o. Box 766
Operator City Name
Ashburn
Operator State Abbreviation
GA
Operator Postal Code
31714
Local Datetime
2010-09-24 13:45:00
Location Street Address
City Of Ashburn
Location City Name
Ashburn
Location County Name
Turner
Location State Abbreviation
GA
Location Postal Code
31714
Location Latitude
Location Longitude
Nrc Rpt Datetime
2010-09-24 15:16:00
Nrc Rpt Num
Commodity Released Type
Other Gas
Commodity Details
No Gas Was Released
Fatality Ind
No
Fatal
0
Injury Ind
No
Injure
0
Ignite Ind
No
Explode Ind
No
Num Pub Evacuated
0.0
Incident Identified Datetime
2010-09-24 13:45:00
On Site Datetime
2010-09-24 13:45:00
Federal
No
Location Type
Private Property
Incident Area Type
Aboveground
Incident Area Subtype
Other
Incident Area Details
Customer Fuel Line
Crossing
No
Pipe Facility Type
Municipally Owned
System Part Involved
Other
System Part Details
Total Distribution System
Material Involved
Other
Material Details
Total System
Release Type
Other
Release Type Details
No Release Of Natural Gas
Class Location Type
Class 3 Location
Est Cost Oper Paid
0.0
Est Cost Prop Damage
0.0
Est Cost Emergency
0.0
Est Cost Other
16484.0
Est Cost Other Details
Total Cost Of Shut Down And Restarting Of The System.
Est Cost Unintentional Release
0.0
Prpty
16484.0
Commercial Affected
73.0
Industrial Affected
5.0
Residences Affected
593.0
Accident Psig
28.0
Normal Psig
23.0
Mop Psig
29.0
Accident Pressure
Pressure Did Not Exceed Maop
Scada In Place Ind
No
Accident Identifier
Notification From Public
Investigation Status
No, the facility was not monitored by a controller(s) at the time of the incident
Employee Drug Test Ind
No
Contractor Drug Test Ind
No
Cause
Other Incident Cause
Cause Details
Miscellaneous
Other Type
Miscellaneous
Misc Details
Propane Vapor Was Introduced Into The Natural Gas System Through A Customer Fuel Line.
Preparer Name
S** Y*****
Preparer Title
Reglatory Compliance - Analyst
Preparer Email
S******@g***********.com
Preparer Telephone
2293763027
Authorizer Name
R**** G******
Authorizer Title
Gas Superintendent
Authorizer Telephone
2295673431
Authorizer Email
G******@m****.com
Narrative
City of ashburn propane contamination of natural gas system september 24, 2010 event summary the city of ashburn received a call on sept. 24, 2010 at city hall from keith-a-que restaurant reporting that they were having problems with the pilot lights on their appliances. The call was received at approximately 10:30am by amanda bridges. She dispatched the information to the gas department for investigation. James young, bruce burgess, buster felton, and mario byrd performed the initial investigation at keith-a-que, which is located at 249 east washington ave. During their investigation gas personnel determined that additional personnel were needed to determine the cause of the problem. Ashburn gas superintendent roger giddens reported to their location at approximately 11:00am to help determine the source of the problem. During the investigation other locations throughout town reported having similar problems. Propane odor was determined to be present within the natural gas system. At approximately 12:00pm city personnel determined that propane was being introduced into the natural gas system from four 500 gallon propane tanks connected to a fuel line at the hat creek peanut company inc. Located at 465 bussey road, sycamore ga. 31790. Later investigation revealed that this metered service was delivering line pressure to the hat creek per agreement between ashburn and hat creek. Hat creek connected the propane tanks to its internal piping in an attempt to supplement its natural gas supply during high demand periods. The absence of a service regulator at the meter allowed the higher-pressure propane to flow backward through the meter into ashburn's natural gas facilities. Georgia public service commission (gpsc) inspectors josh lairsey and rob pacer were notified of the event at approximately 1:45pm on september 24, 2010. Ashburn city manager ben taylor established a command center at city hall to develop a plan of action with all city personnel. Due to the unknown volume and extent of propane in the natural gas system, city personnel decided to begin shutting off all services throughout the distribution system. Mutual assistance was requested from and provided by the cities of douglas, tifton, cordele, sylvester and fitzgerald. Ashburn confirmed that these cities' personnel have appropriate operator qualifications to perform the requested task. The shut off process began at approximately 4:00pm on friday september 24th, 2010. Acting on instructions from gpsc to report this event to the national response center (nrc) as an incident pursuant to 49 cfr part 191, ben taylor requested that the subscribed regulatory compliance service (srcs) make the telephonic report on behalf of ashburn. On 9/24/2010 at 3:16pm, srcs manager bill defoor called the nrc and gave the required information to kevin williams, who assigned case #955047 to the report.On 9/24/2010 at 6:59pm the valve supplying natural gas to the distribution system was shut off. The shutting off and locking of all services was complete at approximately 3:15am on 9/25/2010. During the completion of the shut-off action line pressure on the distribution system dropped to zero as hat creek consumed the remaining contaminated gas through its peanut dryers. On 9/25/2010 at 9:00am the valve controlling the gas flow to the city was cut back on. As a precaution, locations throughout the system were monitored for 100% gas using (cgi) combustible gas indicators. The locations that were monitored were industrial blvd., central packing plant, and bridges road. When 100% levels were confirmed, crews began cutting on services and relighting appliances throughout the system. The relighting process started at approximately 10:30am saturday morning. At approximately 6:00pm a majority of the services were back on. Where occupants were not available to allow access for relighting, contact information and instructions were placed in a conspicuous location. A post-emergency
Occurred At 2010-09-24 13:45:00
Year 2010
Report Received Date 2010-10-19 00:00:00
Iyear 2010.0
Report Number 20100086.0
Supplemental Number 15897.0
Report Type Supplemental Final
Operator Id 702 PHMSA Enforcement
Name Ashburn Gas Dept, City Of
Operator Street Address P.o. Box 766
Operator City Name Ashburn
Operator State Abbreviation GA
Operator Postal Code 31714
Local Datetime 2010-09-24 13:45:00
Location Street Address City Of Ashburn
Location City Name Ashburn
Location County Name Turner
Location State Abbreviation GA
Location Postal Code 31714
Location Latitude 31.7094593 Google Maps OpenStreetMap
Location Longitude -83.652757 Google Maps OpenStreetMap
Nrc Rpt Datetime 2010-09-24 15:16:00
Nrc Rpt Num 955047 NRC Report How to search
Commodity Released Type Other Gas
Commodity Details No Gas Was Released
Fatality Ind No
Fatal 0
Injury Ind No
Injure 0
Ignite Ind No
Explode Ind No
Num Pub Evacuated 0.0
Incident Identified Datetime 2010-09-24 13:45:00
On Site Datetime 2010-09-24 13:45:00
Federal No
Location Type Private Property
Incident Area Type Aboveground
Incident Area Subtype Other
Incident Area Details Customer Fuel Line
Crossing No
Pipe Facility Type Municipally Owned
System Part Involved Other
System Part Details Total Distribution System
Material Involved Other
Material Details Total System
Release Type Other
Release Type Details No Release Of Natural Gas
Class Location Type Class 3 Location
Est Cost Oper Paid 0.0
Est Cost Prop Damage 0.0
Est Cost Emergency 0.0
Est Cost Other 16484.0
Est Cost Other Details Total Cost Of Shut Down And Restarting Of The System.
Est Cost Unintentional Release 0.0
Prpty 16484.0
Commercial Affected 73.0
Industrial Affected 5.0
Residences Affected 593.0
Accident Psig 28.0
Normal Psig 23.0
Mop Psig 29.0
Accident Pressure Pressure Did Not Exceed Maop
Scada In Place Ind No
Accident Identifier Notification From Public
Investigation Status No, the facility was not monitored by a controller(s) at the time of the incident
Employee Drug Test Ind No
Contractor Drug Test Ind No
Cause Other Incident Cause
Cause Details Miscellaneous
Other Type Miscellaneous
Misc Details Propane Vapor Was Introduced Into The Natural Gas System Through A Customer Fuel Line.
Preparer Name S** Y*****
Preparer Title Reglatory Compliance - Analyst
Preparer Email S******@g***********.com
Preparer Telephone 2293763027
Authorizer Name R**** G******
Authorizer Title Gas Superintendent
Authorizer Telephone 2295673431
Authorizer Email G******@m****.com
Narrative City of ashburn propane contamination of natural gas system september 24, 2010 event summary the city of ashburn received a call on sept. 24, 2010 at city hall from keith-a-que restaurant reporting that they were having problems with the pilot lights on their appliances. The call was received at approximately 10:30am by amanda bridges. She dispatched the information to the gas department for investigation. James young, bruce burgess, buster felton, and mario byrd performed the initial investigation at keith-a-que, which is located at 249 east washington ave. During their investigation gas personnel determined that additional personnel were needed to determine the cause of the problem. Ashburn gas superintendent roger giddens reported to their location at approximately 11:00am to help determine the source of the problem. During the investigation other locations throughout town reported having similar problems. Propane odor was determined to be present within the natural gas system. At approximately 12:00pm city personnel determined that propane was being introduced into the natural gas system from four 500 gallon propane tanks connected to a fuel line at the hat creek peanut company inc. Located at 465 bussey road, sycamore ga. 31790. Later investigation revealed that this metered service was delivering line pressure to the hat creek per agreement between ashburn and hat creek. Hat creek connected the propane tanks to its internal piping in an attempt to supplement its natural gas supply during high demand periods. The absence of a service regulator at the meter allowed the higher-pressure propane to flow backward through the meter into ashburn's natural gas facilities. Georgia public service commission (gpsc) inspectors josh lairsey and rob pacer were notified of the event at approximately 1:45pm on september 24, 2010. Ashburn city manager ben taylor established a command center at city hall to develop a plan of action with all city personnel. Due to the unknown volume and extent of propane in the natural gas system, city personnel decided to begin shutting off all services throughout the distribution system. Mutual assistance was requested from and provided by the cities of douglas, tifton, cordele, sylvester and fitzgerald. Ashburn confirmed that these cities' personnel have appropriate operator qualifications to perform the requested task. The shut off process began at approximately 4:00pm on friday september 24th, 2010. Acting on instructions from gpsc to report this event to the national response center (nrc) as an incident pursuant to 49 cfr part 191, ben taylor requested that the subscribed regulatory compliance service (srcs) make the telephonic report on behalf of ashburn. On 9/24/2010 at 3:16pm, srcs manager bill defoor called the nrc and gave the required information to kevin williams, who assigned case #955047 to the report.On 9/24/2010 at 6:59pm the valve supplying natural gas to the distribution system was shut off. The shutting off and locking of all services was complete at approximately 3:15am on 9/25/2010. During the completion of the shut-off action line pressure on the distribution system dropped to zero as hat creek consumed the remaining contaminated gas through its peanut dryers. On 9/25/2010 at 9:00am the valve controlling the gas flow to the city was cut back on. As a precaution, locations throughout the system were monitored for 100% gas using (cgi) combustible gas indicators. The locations that were monitored were industrial blvd., central packing plant, and bridges road. When 100% levels were confirmed, crews began cutting on services and relighting appliances throughout the system. The relighting process started at approximately 10:30am saturday morning. At approximately 6:00pm a majority of the services were back on. Where occupants were not available to allow access for relighting, contact information and instructions were placed in a conspicuous location. A post-emergency

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