PG&E Can't Get A Break -- With Comments -- February 7, 2019

From oilprice:

A gas line operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. exploded yesterday (Wednesday, February 6, 2019), sending flames high into the air [wow, high into the air], the San Francisco Chronicle reported, adding that the explosion set five buildings around the line on fire.

The explosion, it turned out, had occurred by accident [I'm glad it was an accident, I would hate to think it was done on purpose], when a member of a Verizon crew working on the same street struck the gas line.

It took the company two hours to put it out, the daily reports, because, as explained by a PG & E’s spokesman, the crew had to cut the asphalt to get to the line and turn off a valve to stop the flow by hand, with shovels [I'm glad they clarified, that by hands, they "included" shovels]. The reason they could not use machinery was that the line was too close to the surface and the risk of an accidental spark igniting another blast would have been too great.

“You can imagine having to hand-dig in asphalt. It takes time,” company spokesman Blair Jones said. “It’s also very cold right now. If we do this wrong, we shut off gas to potentially hundreds, maybe thousands more people in San Francisco.” [Yes, best to let the fire get out of control than turn off the gas.]

As a result of the blast 2,500 residents in the surrounding area were left without electricity and 300 gas customers were cut off. Within a few hours however, electricity supply was restored to most of the affected households. [And, so we have a happy ending.]