# PENNSYLVANIA GAS & WATER CO — Gas distribution — incident on 1998-08-31

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 19980205  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 1998-08-31  
**Published:** 1998-09-19

Gas distribution incident in MOOSIC, LACKAWANNA County, PA. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $150,000 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, not serious.

## Document text

Gas distribution incident in MOOSIC, LACKAWANNA County, PA. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $150,000 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: 19980205.

Operator ID: 15259.

Reported incident date: 19980831.

Cause detail: CONTRACTOR WAS OPERATING A MOTORIZED MANLIFT NEXT TO THE GARAGE (GUEST HOUSE),LOST CONTROL OF HIS MACHINE AS HE TRIED TO STEER IT DOWN AN EMBANKMENT. ASTHE MANLIFT SLID DOWN THE HILL, IT HIT A METER SET (WHICH WAS AN AL425 WITH A1 1/4" RISER) SEVERING IT OFF BEFORE THE REGULATOR. WHEN THE OPERATOR TURNEDTHE MANLIFT OFF, IT BACKFIRED AND IGNITED THE ESCAPING GAS. THE GUEST HOUSEAND GARAGE WERE DESTROYED IN THE FIRE WHICH FOLLOWED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $150,000 reported total cost, $104,767.272 in 1984 dollars, $258,009.548 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: <https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge/files/7ccf83c5-a778-4c51-ba2d-a9a84e221c7b?download=true&filename=Gas%20Distribution%20Incident%20Data%20-%20mid%201984%20to%20February%202004.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `9aecdd443d5687628d73de51e4b3ed4f971ca99ebca44d56abade7eedf9b8ace`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-25T18:23:24.789Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-e9303b0a6963ed2747c05c58`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_distribution",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas distribution",
  "datasetPeriod": "mid 1984 to February 2004",
  "report": {
    "number": "19980205",
    "supplementalNumber": null,
    "type": null,
    "receivedDate": "1998-09-19",
    "receivedDateRaw": "19980919"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "15259",
    "name": "PENNSYLVANIA GAS & WATER CO"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "1998-08-31",
    "dateRaw": "19980831"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "MOOSIC",
    "county": "LACKAWANNA",
    "state": "PA",
    "postalCode": "18507",
    "latitude": null,
    "longitude": null,
    "type": null,
    "details": {},
    "facilityName": null
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES",
    "details": {
      "NARRATIVE": "CONTRACTOR WAS OPERATING A MOTORIZED MANLIFT NEXT TO THE GARAGE (GUEST HOUSE),LOST CONTROL OF HIS MACHINE AS HE TRIED TO STEER IT DOWN AN EMBANKMENT. ASTHE MANLIFT SLID DOWN THE HILL, IT HIT A METER SET (WHICH WAS AN AL425 WITH A1 1/4\" RISER) SEVERING IT OFF BEFORE THE REGULATOR. WHEN THE OPERATOR TURNEDTHE MANLIFT OFF, IT BACKFIRED AND IGNITED THE ESCAPING GAS. THE GUEST HOUSEAND GARAGE WERE DESTROYED IN THE FIRE WHICH FOLLOWED."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": null,
    "release": null,
    "propertyDamage": 150000,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": null,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": null,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": null,
    "explosion": null,
    "evacuated": null,
    "raw": {
      "FAT": "0",
      "INJ": "0",
      "PRPTY": "150000"
    }
  },
  "provenance": {
    "viewId": "27nc-rsge",
    "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge",
    "assetId": "7ccf83c5-a778-4c51-ba2d-a9a84e221c7b",
    "archiveFilename": "Gas Distribution Incident Data - mid 1984 to February 2004.zip",
    "archiveSha256": "faf20de4eb8fe04e84e6ec6704517de9f4f59755ba8dae865881822ffe5d336f",
    "memberPath": "incident_gas_distribution_mid1984_feb2004.txt",
    "memberSha256": "160b048435c0ab62f776d36b69451902e8337a5cdaa7d28aa5247166783cfe65",
    "rowNumber": 2114,
    "rowSha256": "f4fa9143269571ec9be444e9433d3b627abe3b4178adbb34b17abda9d7a522fc"
  },
  "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": false
    },
    "standardizedCause": {
      "sevenCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE",
      "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE",
      "eightCategory": null,
      "eightSubcategory": null
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 150000,
      "in1984Dollars": 104767.27224506,
      "currentYearDollars": 258009.54780533
    },
    "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": "gd1986tofeb2004.xlsx",
      "sheet": "gd1986tofeb2004",
      "rowNumber": 1708,
      "rowSha256": "a4917c1ae811339f4476a1b0f077d4d5cf7c092860669ec7d3ebcf17fbd3f89a"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "PENNSYLVANIA GAS & WATER CO"
}
```