Dallas Pipe Line Explosion

[UULC]

Please tell me that this line was marked correctly and a ticket was called in for it.

3 people died.

[GPGrasshopper]

A natural gas pipeline exploded Monday about 50 miles southwest of Dallas, killing at least three people and injuring at least six, local officials and news media reported.
The blast occurred about 2:40 p.m. Central time when workers apparently struck the underground gas pipeline while digging near Cleburne in Johnson County, Tex., Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael told CNN.
"An unknown number of people are still unaccounted for," he said. "We're trying to locate those people."
The local television station WFAA quoted the Cleburne city manager as saying three people were killed and 10 were missing.
Ishmael said firefighters were trying to get the supply of gas turned off as a massive fire continued to burn more than two hours after the explosion. He said that was the only hope of putting out the fire.
The blast unleashed huge orange flames and a cloud of smoke, witnesses said. Television news footage showed a couple of vehicles burning in the vicinity.
Laura Harlin, who lives about a mile from the scene, told CNN she heard a rumbling noise that sounded like a jet engine when the explosion occurred. She said her house shook and the rumbling lasted for about 10 minutes.
Enterprise Products Partners said it owned the 36-inch pipeline, which is part of its Texas Intrastate system. The explosion was 15 miles south of Godley, Texas.

More Here:
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-bea...-95802099.html

No word yet of tickets or markings.

[Goldenboy]

The article says the main was hit while installing communication lines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_texas_explosion

[Mke]

This even made the news up in my neck of the woods. The stated it was a 36" line? Thats big enough to vaporize some of the bystanders. Hopefully those missing 10 are counting their blessings at a local bar, and not near ground zero.

mke

[sprayandpray]

Latest is 3 dead, 6 at the hospital and 2 unaccounted for. A crew in the area was drilling pier holes for electric transmission towers just outside a sub-station. Still not sure who hit the line. This was located in a field off Hwy 67 between Cleburne and Glen Rose

[yahoo]

I hope all works out! I'm sure the obvious human errors will be covered up!!!! so we'll nver know what the real story is........

[sprayandpray]

As of this am, only 1 dead , 1 still remaining in the hospital. Seems that company was out of Ok and did not have any locate requests.

[wet_boots101]

Pretty horrible. Article says the diggers were C&H Power Line Construction Services, subcontracting for Brazos Electric Cooperative.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...0,944537.story

[UULC]

As of this am, only 1 dead , 1 still remaining in the hospital. Seems that company was out of Ok and did not have any locate requests.

No locate? How can anyone or their company dig or auger without a locate. Expecially in Texas where line crisscross the state. Amazing. Stupid. This is where company's need to be fined or sued to the max.

[Shadowcat]

A utility crew that accidentally hit and ruptured a natural gas line, killing one worker in a massive explosion, followed the proper procedures in locating that line before digging, a company official said Tuesday.
Fred Haag, chief operating officer of Oklahoma-based C&H Power Line Construction Services, said the crew already had a survey map showing gas lines in the area but also made calls to verify the line location at the site in rural Johnson County, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.
Michael Williams of the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, said calls were made to locate the line, a requirement before any company or person does excavation work, but his agency is investigating what was said during those calls.
Authorities identified the man killed in Monday's blast as James Robert Neese, 45, of Ramona, Okla. His body was found Monday night about 600 feet from the explosion site after authorities deemed the charred area safe enough to do a thorough search.

"Even at night, the soles of their shoes were melting because it was still extremely hot," said Jack Snow, Johnson County's emergency management coordinator.
At least seven of the other 13 workers who had been close to the site were treated at hospitals, mostly for burns to their necks and arms as they ran away from the massive fireball, Haag said. Only one worker remained hospitalized Tuesday, he said.
A 23-member crew that had been working in the area for several months was drilling a hole Monday for an 80- to 120-foot utility pole when the gas line was struck and ruptured, sending a massive fireball into the air that burned out about two hours later after the gas flow was shut off.
"Some of the guys heard it from a distance," Haag said Tuesday. "There was an explosion of flames and everybody started running."
Several of Neese's relatives also work for C&H, including his brother who was at the site Monday but was not injured. Neese, who has several children and stepchildren, recently welcomed a new baby with his wife, Haag said.
"It's hard because we're a fairly small company and close-knit," Haag said. "His crew was like a family to him, and he watched them like a mother hen."
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board's Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations are also investigating the blast.
After investigators finish looking over the site, workers will repair the ruptured pipeline, which is expected to take several days, said Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners LP, which partially owns the 36-inch-diameter line. It is a 395-mile segment of a pipeline extending from western to eastern Texas, the company said in a Tuesday news release.

[UULC]

This is sad. But now the truth will come out.

[yahoo]

show no mercy for the neglectful!!!!! throw the texas law book at em!!!!

[sprayandpray]

Another explosion :"LUBBOCK (AP) — Two workers removing clay from a pit in a remote part of the Texas Panhandle were killed when a natural gas line exploded, a sheriff said Tuesday.

The blast near Darrouzett, about 270 miles northeast of Lubbock, was the second fatal natural gas explosion in Texas in as many days. On Monday, a worker was killed when a utility crew accidentally hit and ruptured a natural gas line in rural Johnson County, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.

The blast Tuesday involved a crew that was removing caliche — commonly used in cement — for a dirt-contracting company, Lipscomb County Sheriff James Robertson said in a news release. The explosion happened when a bulldozer struck a pipeline."

[Wingfoot]

Photos of the 36 inch gas main that was damaged
while drilling holes to set electric poles near Darrouzett, Texas.



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The remains of the new electric pole to be set
lays across the end of the open trench.

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[UULC]

Wing, Awesome pic's. Sorrow goes out to the family of lost person.