# PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-11-13 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20150148 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2015-11-13 **Published:** 2015-12-14 Gas transmission and gathering incident in BAKERSFIELD, KERN County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 1 fatalities, 2 injuries, 67000 NATURAL GAS released, $642,000 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: significant incident, serious incident. ## Document text Gas transmission and gathering incident in BAKERSFIELD, KERN County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 1 fatalities, 2 injuries, 67000 NATURAL GAS released, $642,000 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: 20150148. Operator ID: 15007. Reported incident date: 11/13/2015 15:32. Location detail: NEAR V-270.85 Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811 Cause detail: ON NOVEMBER 13, 2015, PG&E'S GAS CONTROL CENTER DETECTED A BACKFLOW ALARM VIA SCADA AT 1533 HOURS ON L-300A NEAR WIBLE RD & HOUGHTON RD. IN BAKERSFIELD. A THIRD-PARTY EXCAVATOR, JEFF ALEXANDER/BIG N DEEP AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, WAS PERFORMING AGRICULTURAL WORK WITH HEAVY EQUIPMENT, STRUCK NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION LINE 300-A, CAUSING AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GAS. THE GAS IGNITED RESULTING IN ONE FATALITY AND TWO INJURIES. WITHIN 4 MINUTES OF IDENTIFYING THE LOSS IN PRESSURE ON L-300A, GAS CONTROL INITIATED REMOTE SHUT OFF OF TWO MAINLINE VALVES AND ISOLATED THE PIPELINE BY 1547 HOURS. PG&E'S FIRST RESPONDERS ARRIVED ON-SITE AT 1604 HOURS AND MANUALLY SHUT OFF VALVES V-267.26A AND V-278.70A TO ISOLATE A SMALLER SECTION OF PIPELINE. THE REMAINING GAS WITHIN THE PIPELINE BURNED UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 1630 HOURS. THE VALVE CLOSEST TO THE INCIDENT, VALVE-270.85, WAS CLOSED AT 1700 HOURS ONCE THE FIRE WAS OUT AND THE EQUIPMENT WAS COOL ENOUGH TO OPERATE. THE EXCAVATOR DID NOT HOLD A VALID USA TICKET. FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENT WERE ON-SITE, AND BLOCKED OFF THE AREA. APPROXIMATELY NINETY GAS CUSTOMERS LOST SERVICE AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT. MAJORITY OF THE GAS SERVICES WERE RESTORED BY 11/14/15 AT 1500 HOURS. THERE WERE SIX TO SEVEN REMAINING CUSTOMERS THAT WERE EITHER VACANT OR OUT-OF-TOWN. SERVICE WAS RESTORED TO THE OUT-OF-TOWN CUSTOMERS WITHIN A WEEK FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT. A NEARBY HOME AND BARN ALSO SUSTAINED DAMAGES FROM THE FIRE. REPAIRS TO THE PIPE WERE COMPLETED ON 11/20/15 AT NOON, X-RAYS WERE COMPLETED BY 1330 HOURS, AND THE LINE WAS PUT BACK TO NORMAL OPERATION AT 1645 HOURS. DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE INCIDENT ARE APPROXIMATELY $2.5 MILLION AND VOLUME OF GAS UNINTENTIONALLY RELEASED IS 67 MMCF. MEDIA WAS REPORTED ON-SITE. SAMPLES OF THE DAMAGED PIPE WERE RETAINED AND TRANSPORTED TO A THIRD PARTY CONSULTING FIRM FOR EVALUATION. THE INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO BOTH THE DOT AND CPUC DUE TO A FATALITY, INJURIES, AND COSTS EXCEEDING $50,000, VOLUME OF GAS RELEASE EXCEEDING 3 MMCF, SUBSEQUENT IGNITION, MEDIA COVERAGE, AND TRANSMISSION EVENT. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident. PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $2,535,000 reported total cost, $1,346,624.529 in 1984 dollars, $3,114,804.485 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: `48c5690fa1b4c0bd113eb36be039fbad1d0415c88edcac9ed0b04872691c81c4` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-25T14:47:41.904Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-cbd1c2368fa4bf5b462a0007` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20150148", "supplementalNumber": "16974", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2015-12-14", "receivedDateRaw": "12/14/2015" }, "operator": { "id": "15007", "name": "PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO" }, "incident": { "date": "2015-11-13", "dateRaw": "11/13/2015 15:32" }, "location": { "city": "BAKERSFIELD", "county": "KERN", "state": "CA", "postalCode": "93313", "latitude": 35.239381, "longitude": -119.039917, "type": "PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "NEAR V-270.85" }, "facilityName": "L-300A" }, "cause": { "category": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY", "ROOT_CAUSE_CATEGORY": "NOTIFICATION ISSUE", "ROOT_CAUSE_TYPE": "NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811", "NARRATIVE": "ON NOVEMBER 13, 2015, PG&E'S GAS CONTROL CENTER DETECTED A BACKFLOW ALARM VIA SCADA AT 1533 HOURS ON L-300A NEAR WIBLE RD & HOUGHTON RD. IN BAKERSFIELD. A THIRD-PARTY EXCAVATOR, JEFF ALEXANDER/BIG N DEEP AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, WAS PERFORMING AGRICULTURAL WORK WITH HEAVY EQUIPMENT, STRUCK NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION LINE 300-A, CAUSING AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GAS. THE GAS IGNITED RESULTING IN ONE FATALITY AND TWO INJURIES. WITHIN 4 MINUTES OF IDENTIFYING THE LOSS IN PRESSURE ON L-300A, GAS CONTROL INITIATED REMOTE SHUT OFF OF TWO MAINLINE VALVES AND ISOLATED THE PIPELINE BY 1547 HOURS. PG&E'S FIRST RESPONDERS ARRIVED ON-SITE AT 1604 HOURS AND MANUALLY SHUT OFF VALVES V-267.26A AND V-278.70A TO ISOLATE A SMALLER SECTION OF PIPELINE. THE REMAINING GAS WITHIN THE PIPELINE BURNED UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 1630 HOURS. THE VALVE CLOSEST TO THE INCIDENT, VALVE-270.85, WAS CLOSED AT 1700 HOURS ONCE THE FIRE WAS OUT AND THE EQUIPMENT WAS COOL ENOUGH TO OPERATE. THE EXCAVATOR DID NOT HOLD A VALID USA TICKET. FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENT WERE ON-SITE, AND BLOCKED OFF THE AREA. APPROXIMATELY NINETY GAS CUSTOMERS LOST SERVICE AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT. MAJORITY OF THE GAS SERVICES WERE RESTORED BY 11/14/15 AT 1500 HOURS. THERE WERE SIX TO SEVEN REMAINING CUSTOMERS THAT WERE EITHER VACANT OR OUT-OF-TOWN. SERVICE WAS RESTORED TO THE OUT-OF-TOWN CUSTOMERS WITHIN A WEEK FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT. A NEARBY HOME AND BARN ALSO SUSTAINED DAMAGES FROM THE FIRE. REPAIRS TO THE PIPE WERE COMPLETED ON 11/20/15 AT NOON, X-RAYS WERE COMPLETED BY 1330 HOURS, AND THE LINE WAS PUT BACK TO NORMAL OPERATION AT 1645 HOURS. DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE INCIDENT ARE APPROXIMATELY $2.5 MILLION AND VOLUME OF GAS UNINTENTIONALLY RELEASED IS 67 MMCF. MEDIA WAS REPORTED ON-SITE. SAMPLES OF THE DAMAGED PIPE WERE RETAINED AND TRANSPORTED TO A THIRD PARTY CONSULTING FIRM FOR EVALUATION. THE INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO BOTH THE DOT AND CPUC DUE TO A FATALITY, INJURIES, AND COSTS EXCEEDING $50,000, VOLUME OF GAS RELEASE EXCEEDING 3 MMCF, SUBSEQUENT IGNITION, MEDIA COVERAGE, AND TRANSMISSION EVENT." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 1, "injuries": 2, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "67000", "propertyDamage": 642000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 1000000, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 717000, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "YES", "explosion": "YES", "evacuated": 3, "raw": { "FATAL": "1", "INJURE": "2", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "67000", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "642000", "PRPTY": "2535000" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8", "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "fe0b136ca4b00ac987a8bc2e195098accf910d97512c5fc3b59e62d9da5f674e", "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "b435f2a25718cf54c54e00294e6788c4f9c6860e02fb86355e75d294c243c4dd", "rowNumber": 1251, "rowSha256": "7f23b1a9d673379e2c6c85d2df7f8f8b023cfcd0872b541f79f7936f8bfd92df" }, "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": null, "significant": true, "serious": true }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 2535000, "in1984Dollars": 1346624.5294096868, "currentYearDollars": 3114804.484844745 }, "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": "gtggungs2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gtggungs2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 746, "rowSha256": "d6ff3b7538f4fbbeddaf75926a88507fe0edd96e18dc27f42180d5bb2de9537e" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO" } ```