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Uploaded: Monday, November 23, 2009, 12:24 PM

Firefighters respond to gas leak on Cambridge
Fire officials spot leak after line punctured during Utilities construction

Posted by Ms. G, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Nov 23, 2009 at 1:34 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same location where in the past year there was a similar gas leak incident? I was walking on California avenue during the day and saw fire trucks and police cars there.

Is this a recurring problem?

Posted by Sonny, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Nov 23, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Are the employees doing the repairs qualified to do so? When will we know which employees allegedly skipped the testing procedure? People's lives are on the line. I think we deserve to know if our gas utility employees are capable of handling public safety emergencies.

Posted by likely, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Nov 23, 2009 at 2:51 pm

youre more likely to be in danger from gas leaks and police violence than anythinh. check latest you tube of bart cop smashing person into window!

Posted by stretch, a resident of another community, on Nov 23, 2009 at 4:30 pm

There is a recurring problem, and it happens because people don't call USA (underground service alert) to have utilities marked out, so the lines are hit. The big problem in this case might tie into the NON-training of utilities employees. They should have known how to read the block books and other records to locate the gas line on their own. Simple as that.

Posted by Sonny, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Nov 23, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Stretch,

My point exactly! Whether it's training or lack of training, the public is at risk. Who's supposed to provide the training? Is it the supervisors, or safety officers? I don't know, but it needs to be addressed.

Posted by Jake, a resident of another community, on Nov 23, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Even if USA is called and every safe guard is followed accidents and things can go wrong. Existing underground maps can be wrong, locating devices could misread, installed slightly off course, wrong depth, etc, etc, etc. Ground shifts, previous repairs involved moving lines.

It's not an exact science people, considering how much construction is done on a daily basis with utilities involved the accident rate is fairly low.

Repairs that take place without incident don't make the 5:00 news or the papers. We just hear about things when they go wrong.

None of us know what the factors were that contributed to the incident today? Most likely it was a combination of several things not going as planned.

Posted by stretch, a resident of another community, on Nov 23, 2009 at 5:57 pm

Jake:

There are thousands of records: maps from when the main was installed, possibly a wire attached to the main to read, drawings of all previous work done on each service and the gas main (with depths listed each time the main was exposed), GPS identifiers if the main is new enough, etc. USA should be called whenever anyone (including the electric utility) is digging around other utilities. This is the planning part, and, if a plastic main is indicated, one digs verry carefully, with as much information as possible.

Posted by Sonny, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Nov 24, 2009 at 2:52 pm

Does the Utility Department still do drug testing? If so, what are the consequences for failing the test?