CABL Forum - Fatal Utility Strike/Ground Rod Hit Gas Line

The Locates are always wrong:

November 21st, 2006, 07:22 PM
Everyone, just a reminder to excercise extreme caution when driving ground rods. Make sure you know where all other underground utilities are. On 11/21/2006, a cable worker struck a gas line driving a rod. The massive gas leak caused an explosion killing two people. Here's a copy of the news story as it reads on www.indystar.com.

HUNTINGTON, Ind. — A cable company worker hit a natural gas line at a home that later exploded, killing two people and injuring two others, officials said.

A resident of the two-story home, Emilie Wilson, 75, and R. Alan Dalrymple, a 21-year veteran Vectren Corp. worker, died in the explosion that flattened the home Monday, the Huntington County coroner’s office said.
The woman’s husband, Jack Wilson, and the Comcast worker were being treated today at the St. Joseph Hospital burn unit in Fort Wayne, officials said. The extent of their injuries was not available.

The Comcast worker called Vectren to report that he had pierced a gas line with a metal rod, Vectren spokesman Mike Roeder said Tuesday. The 50-year-old Dalrymple came to the home, and the explosion happened about 5 p.m., soon after firefighters arrived, authorities said.

Comcast spokesman Mark Apple said in a statement that the company was investigating what happened.

Fire spread to two neighboring homes, but no one in those homes was reported injured.

Huntington County Coroner Leon Hurlburt said the blast destroyed much of the house before the fire spread.

“From all indications this was a natural gas explosion,” he said.

Firefighters needed more than an hour to extinguish the flames in the line of homes near downtown Huntington, about 25 miles southwest of Fort Wayne.

Fire crews from throughout Huntington County responded and traffic was diverted away from downtown.

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Fatal Utility Strike/Ground Rod Hit Gas Line