This was pretty wild?

**WOOD** · January 17th, 2010, 04:57 PM

I got a call on a Emergency Locate request awile back and here is what I seen when I got there! The white line is actually a 2" Gas Main it was broken when a wind storm hit us and blew over a tree! Never seen anything like that happen before so I thought I would post a pic...

**Wingfoot** · January 17th, 2010, 05:48 PM

Hey WOOD - Thanks for the post. My guess, it's a 2" brittle cast iron gas main. A steel or plastic gas main is much more forgiving on a tree blow-over.

Twice I've been to call-outs when lightning followed the tree trunk down to the roots to melt a buried shallow plastic gas service that laid close to the roots.

NEWAYGO COUNTY Michigan - 5 June 2008 - A furrow several feet long shows the point of impact of a lightning strike that ignited a buried natural gas line at 1268 West Lakewood Blvd. Park Township fire chief Scott Gamby said the lightning strike from passing thunderstorm apparently struck the ground and traveled several feet hitting the buried line. A SEMCO company crew was called to shut off the natural gas and repair the line. Nearby Waukazoo School was alerted to the situation, but students were not evacuated.

Big tree roots grow out, not down. I've watched big trackhoes knock over huge hedgerow trees that had telephone cables and fibers directly below without incident.

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**paintitnow** · January 18th, 2010, 12:21 AM

oak tree's root come to the surface when no water in soil and at a locate the root had pulled the pe service to the surface. I could of imagine a lawn mower hitting that service. also see a lighting strike blow out a pac service. Had a contracotr call in mismarked gas line when they pulled out a bush. The bush was at the corner of the house and ripped out the copper service along with the bush. Had a gas main that caught fire below surface from a lightning strike. Came to the surface and engulfed the tree. The flames melted all the aerial cables too.

**Goldenboy** · January 18th, 2010, 08:45 AM

It is amazing what tree roots can do. I've never seen a gas service hit by lightning but I did see one that was the result of a tree falling over. The yellow in the pic is the 2" steel gas service.