# WASHINGTON GAS LIGHT CO — Gas distribution — incident on 2023-10-12 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20230069 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2023-10-12 **Published:** 2023-11-20 Gas distribution incident in SILVER SPRING, MONTGOMERY COUNTY County, MD. Reported cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5950 NATURAL GAS released, $0 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious, not fire-first. ## Document text Gas distribution incident in SILVER SPRING, MONTGOMERY COUNTY County, MD. Reported cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5950 NATURAL GAS released, $0 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. Report number: 20230069. Operator ID: 22182. Reported incident date: 10/12/2023 17:15. Location detail: 11301 MAPLEVIEW DRIVE Cause detail: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE Cause detail: ON OCTOBER 12, 2023, AT APPROXIMATELY 17:15 HOURS WASHINGTON GAS WAS NOTIFIED OF A POSSIBLE LEAK AT 11301 MAPLEVIEW DR SILVER SPRING MD. WASHINGTON GAS DISPATCHED CREWS TO THE LOCATION WHO ARRIVED AND PERFORMED AN ASSESSMENT OF SITUATION, WHICH RESULTED IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF A LEAKING 4-INCH STEEL MAIN LINE. WASHINGTON SURBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION WAS WORKING ON A LEAKING WATER MAIN IN THE AREA THAT EVENTUALLY CAUSED THE GAS MAIN LEAK. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK ON THE 4-INCH GAS MAIN LINE WAS A LEAK THAT ORIGINATED ON A 30-INCH WATER MAIN LINE AT A 100 PSI WHICH CREATED AN APPROXIMATELY 3-INCH DIAMETER HOLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE 4-INCH GAS MAIN. THE GAS MAIN WAS SUBMERGED IN THE EXCAVATION DUE TO THE WATER LEAK. ON OCTOBER 14 AT APPROXIMATELY 1220 HOURS THE GAS WAS TURNED OFF UTILIZING VALVES, STOPPLE FITTING AND SQUEEZE OFF METHOD. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious, not fire-first. PHMSA standardized cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE — OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $18,827 reported total cost, $10,113.136 in 1984 dollars, $18,328.63 in current-year dollars. PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents` - SHA-256: `a404dc9bcd51ba5e109412ba7e18faae6db100cb8b8395829364ebba1008b438` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-25T22:25:17.439Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-55ba1944a280bc5ca853f6ad` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_distribution", "datasetLabel": "Gas distribution", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20230069", "supplementalNumber": "38836", "type": "ORIGINAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2023-11-20", "receivedDateRaw": "11/20/2023" }, "operator": { "id": "22182", "name": "WASHINGTON GAS LIGHT CO" }, "incident": { "date": "2023-10-12", "dateRaw": "10/12/2023 17:15" }, "location": { "city": "SILVER SPRING", "county": "MONTGOMERY COUNTY", "state": "MD", "postalCode": "20902", "latitude": 39.042714, "longitude": -77.068798, "type": "PUBLIC PROPERTY", "details": { "LOCATION_STREET_ADDRESS": "11301 MAPLEVIEW DRIVE" }, "facilityName": null }, "cause": { "category": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE", "NARRATIVE": "ON OCTOBER 12, 2023, AT APPROXIMATELY 17:15 HOURS WASHINGTON GAS WAS NOTIFIED OF A POSSIBLE LEAK AT 11301 MAPLEVIEW DR SILVER SPRING MD. WASHINGTON GAS DISPATCHED CREWS TO THE LOCATION WHO ARRIVED AND PERFORMED AN ASSESSMENT OF SITUATION, WHICH RESULTED IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF A LEAKING 4-INCH STEEL MAIN LINE. WASHINGTON SURBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION WAS WORKING ON A LEAKING WATER MAIN IN THE AREA THAT EVENTUALLY CAUSED THE GAS MAIN LEAK. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK ON THE 4-INCH GAS MAIN LINE WAS A LEAK THAT ORIGINATED ON A 30-INCH WATER MAIN LINE AT A 100 PSI WHICH CREATED AN APPROXIMATELY 3-INCH DIAMETER HOLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE 4-INCH GAS MAIN. THE GAS MAIN WAS SUBMERGED IN THE EXCAVATION DUE TO THE WATER LEAK. ON OCTOBER 14 AT APPROXIMATELY 1220 HOURS THE GAS WAS TURNED OFF UTILIZING VALVES, STOPPLE FITTING AND SQUEEZE OFF METHOD." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "5950", "propertyDamage": 0, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 10947, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": null, "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "5950", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "0", "PRPTY": "18827" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "fba42a19-f78d-44c9-9a76-4bacfc15fba0", "archiveFilename": "Gas Distribution Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "89c21d2ea6f5cb8ff6daad6ac60160608671a7b49c218bf9f917bfb88a2ce5a1", "memberPath": "incident_gas_distribution_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "f97da00c5f09a1cb7702d38c8148331935f286596018e5f00d927cbd80da28d3", "rowNumber": 148, "rowSha256": "fc7c95d2537c6e1b6914cbd3304f26c8f5972522b1478397b76f812f9e9c2ffa" }, "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.", "operatorReported": true, "finalAgencyFinding": false, "flaggedAnalysis": { "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31", "flags": { "fireFirst": false, "significant": false, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 18827, "in1984Dollars": 10113.135635403118, "currentYearDollars": 18328.62970733633 }, "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.", "provenance": { "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip", "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files", "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm", "retrievalMode": "official_live", "archivedAt": null, "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec", "workbook": "gd2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gd2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 1407, "rowSha256": "43e758580e69f07e757ee2011e81c2e0773cf6270bde6b5205dd6d64caf2f7f1" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "WASHINGTON GAS LIGHT CO" } ```