{"id":1993,"date":"2020-02-26T13:20:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T13:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=1993"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:41","slug":"what-has-durham-learned-from-last-years-fatal-gas-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/02\/26\/what-has-durham-learned-from-last-years-fatal-gas-explosion\/","title":{"rendered":"What has Durham learned from last year\u2019s fatal gas pipeline explosion?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nearly a year ago, <\/span>a natural gas pipeline exploded in downtown Durham, killing two people, injuring 25 others\u00a0<\/span>and damaging more than a dozen buildings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of those buildings was Saint James Seafood. When the pipeline blew up, the restaurant\u2019s glass windows shattered and gold chandeliers crashed to the ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After 10 months of work repairing the building and worrying what the future held for him and his employees, Saint James owner Matt Kelly reopened the restaurant in late January. <\/span><\/p>\n He held a dinner for first responders who were there the day of the explosion to thank them for risking their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone could ask more of what that group of people did that day,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those responders say they\u2019ve learned from the disaster and have outlined ways to help prevent it from happening again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In November, Durham County Emergency Management <\/span>released a \u201cLessons Learned Report\u201d<\/span><\/a> about policy changes that have taken place since the deadly explosion, including improving communication with the public and other agencies in times of disaster and educating the public and responders about natural gas as downtown Durham grows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe way that Durham’s building up, it is kind of changing our way of thinking, knowing that we’ve got a huge shift in population to downtown and everything that goes along with that,\u201d said Jim Groves, the city\u2019s emergency management director.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Natural gas pipeline leaks and incidents are fairly common throughout the U.S.; most are caused by excavation work like digging utility lines, <\/span>according to the U.S. Department of Transportation<\/span><\/a>. North Carolina has had 44 natural gas-related pipeline incidents in <\/span>the past 20 years,<\/span><\/a> but April\u2019s explosion were the first deaths ever recorded in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n While laying fiber optic cable on North Duke Street on the morning of April 10, 2019, Optic Cable Technology hit a \u00be-inch natural gas pipeline distribution line at the intersection of North Duke Street and West Main Street, causing a gas leak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n About an hour later, the pipeline exploded, nearly leveling the block. Kaffeinate coffee shop owner Kong Lee was killed, and Jay Rambeaut, a PSNC Energy worker, died two weeks later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Durham fire department <\/span>investigation<\/span><\/a> found that the explosion was an accident. But the contractors working that day faced some responsibility: The North Carolina Labor Department <\/span>fined<\/span><\/a> Optic Cable Technology $7,000 for failing to immediately contact authorities after damaging the line, and another $7,000 for failing to dig a test hole to determine where the pipeline was.<\/span><\/p>\n The agency also fined PS Splicing $2,100 for failing \u201cto perform frequent and regular inspections of the site\u201d and PSNC Energy, a subsidiary utility of <\/span>Dominion Energy, $5,000 for \u201cineffective response procedures\u201d that exposed a first responder to fire and hazards. The energy company disagreed with the state\u2019s findings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The fire department\u2019s report stated that communication systems between city, county, and state agencies about such incidents need to improve. Groves said that on the day of the explosion, Durham public information officials were distracted by the city’s 150th anniversary celebration party downtown, which slowed communication with the public.\u00a0<\/span>The <\/span>delay in reporting the leak<\/span><\/a> made response difficult and more dangerous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n City and county managers have also developed an initiative for a joint crisis communication plan to more efficiently and uniformly release emergency information to the public through social media and public information officers\u2014a process that was too chaotic on the day of the explosion, according to officials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n