PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-08-29

Gas transmission and gathering incident in FIREBAUGH, FRESNO County, CA. Reported cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3000 NATURAL GAS released, $195,000 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: 20130089.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 8/29/2013 10:29.

Location detail: 32.58

Cause detail: DAMAGE BY CAR, TRUCK, OR OTHER MOTORIZED VEHICLE/EQUIPMENT NOT ENGAGED IN EXCAVATION

Cause detail: ON AUGUST 29, 2013 AT APPROXIMATELY 1029 HOURS, CENTRAL CALIFORNIA IRRIGATION DISTRICT (CCID) STRUCK THE 4-INCH GAS TRANSMISSION LINE 134A WITH THE BLADE OF A MOWER WHILE PERFORMING WEED CONTROL ALONG THE BANK OF AN IRRIGATION CANAL. NOTIFYING USA WAS NOT REQUIRED BECAUSE THE WORK DID NOT INCLUDE EXCAVATION ACTIVITIES. PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC'S (PG&E) GAS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE ARRIVED ON SCENE AT 1047 HOURS. THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED AT 1545 HOURS AND REPAIRS TO THE 4-INCH STEEL LINE WERE COMPLETED AT 2215 HOURS. COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS TRUCKS WERE DISPATCHED IN ORDER TO CONTINUE GAS SUPPLY FOR THE CITY OF FIREBAUGH. NO CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCED GAS SERVICE INTERRUPTION. THERE WERE NO FATALITIES, NO INJURIES AND NO IGNITION AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. OUT OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, THE LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS CLOSED HIGHWAY 33. THIS INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO THE DOT AND CPUC BECAUSE THE COST OF DAMAGES DUE TO THE RELEASE OF GAS IS ESTIMATED ABOVE $50,000 AND THE VOLUME OF GAS RELEASED IS APPROXIMATELY THREE MILLION CUBIC FEET.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE — VEHICLE NOT ENGAGED IN EXCAVATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $210,000 reported total cost, $111,541.184 in 1984 dollars, $264,696.454 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.