Gas company talks to families about Appomattox explosion

Updated 5:45 a.m. Tuesday

More than a day after a natural gas pipeline explosion destroyed two homes and injured five people, nearby residents expressed concern that two pipelines are still flowing gas through their community.

Three pipelines run side-by-side between the charred and shattered brick remains of the homes of Linda Jamerson and Calvin Childress along Kelly Creek and Oakville roads in Appomattox County.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

Two pipelines are still funneling gas, said Larry Hjalmarson, vice president of operations for the Williams Companies Inc., which runs those lines.

The third, situated in the middle, is 47 feet from one pipe and 25 feet from the other. It failed early Sunday, sparking an explosion that ignited the gas and sent a fireball hundreds of feet in the air. The blast, which created an almost 50-foot crater, destroyed two homes, damaged at least six others and injured five people.

Michelle Marcellino said her children don't want to return home. One cried, telling her, "Mommy, I don't want to be here." Her 6-year-old daughter can't sleep.

"I'm scared it will happen again," Marcellino said.

Hjalmarson told more than 100 people gathered in the auditorium at Appomattox High School yesterday that the lines still in operation are being thoroughly inspected for damage and are running at lower pressure than normal.

Still, some residents questioned how safe it is to move their families back into the homes that neighbor the pipelines built more than 50 years ago.

The A line was inspected for problems in 2000. The C line was inspected early this year. The B line -- the one that failed -- had just been inspected, but Williams' officials had not been able to analyze the results when the explosion happened.

"All I can do is assure you that we are operating these pipelines with safety in mind," Hjalmarson said. "We will not restore full service until we are confident that the whole thing is safe."

The B line is a 30-inch pipe that is rated to hold 52,000 pounds per square inch of pressure. No leak has been detected in that line prior to 7:44 a.m. Sunday, said Stuart Roach, district manager for Williams.

While work was done in the area in recent weeks, Hjalmarson said it was performed on the C line to replace some anti-corrosive material in the pipe.

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 requires all pipelines to be inspected by Dec. 17 this year for high consequence areas and 2012 for all other sections of pipeline. All pipelines must be re-inspected on a seven-year cycle.

"I've been out there walking along them," said Hjalmarson. "We will inspect the A and C lines. We will expose those lines and take a look at them. ... We do what is needed to keep it safe."

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Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a gas pipeline to explode in Appomattox County on Sunday morning. Two homes were destroyed and five people were hurt. Other nearby homes were evacuated.

Now, a crater and busted pipe are left behind. Everything looks still down below as Williams Gas crews continue to investigate what caused all the damage, all while things still smolder around them.

Rick Leeming owns the land across the street from the explosion and looks at all of it in wonder.

“It's a miracle, a blessing everyone came out alive when you see the damage and destruction,” said Leeming.

While there is a lot of work to do there on the scene, Larry Hjalmarson with the gas company is working with the people.

“Some people, it's just a matter of getting power restored in their home. Others, two homes are destroyed, so we have to work on a long-term solution there,” Hjalmarson said.

Leeming says he didn't know a pipeline that big was so close to his home, but now that what's done is done, he has some questions.

“But how did it get inflamed? How did it get torched? To basically torch the whole area and ignite,” Leeming asked.

It’s one of many puzzles investigators are still trying to solve.

As far as what Williams Gas has done to try to prevent this, they tell us they do constant maintenance with a special tool inside the pipe.

“We measure for corrosion or any damage that might be there. We actually ran that tool in this pipe a few months ago but it takes many months to evaluate the data,” Hjalmarson said.

He also said they didn’t see anything that required immediate attention from the data.

Hjalmarson adds, “There have been failures before. This is the only time in our history that one of our natural gas pipelines has actually injured anybody.”

Hjalmarson said the pipeline was built in the 1950s, but tells us that’s not unusual since many of the country’s pipelines were built in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Three parallel pipelines run in that area. Crews worked on one of the pipes that runs adjacent to the ruptured pipe a couple months ago. The other two pipelines are still running but pressure has been reduced out of safety.

Hjalmarson said many people may know the pipeline better as the Transcontinental Pipeline that runs from the Gulf up to New York.