AMERENUE — Gas distribution — incident on 2015-11-27

Gas distribution incident in LOUISIANA, PIKE County, MO. Reported cause: PIPE, WELD, OR JOINT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 11.83 NATURAL GAS released, $500 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: 20150108.

Operator ID: 20050.

Reported incident date: 11/27/2015 14:45.

Location detail: 3404 GEORGIA ST

Cause detail: MECHANICAL JOINT FAILURE

Cause detail: ON 11/27/15 AT 13:09, AMEREN RECEIVED A REPORT OF AN OUTSIDE GAS ODOR AT 3404 GEORGIA ST, LOUISIANA, MO FROM THE BUSINESS OWNER. AN AMEREN GAS SERVICE WORKER WAS DISPATCHED TO THE LOCATION AND ARRIVED AT 13:19. THE SERVICE WORKER TALKED WITH THE BUSINESS OWNER AND CONDUCTED A LEAK INVESTIGATION. SMALL LEAKS WERE FOUND ON THE ABOVE GROUND PIPING ON EACH SIDE OF THE SERVICE REGULATOR. THE SERVICE WORKER SHUT OFF THE SERVICE AT THE RISER VALVE, REPAIRED THE LEAKS AND THEN TURNED THE SERVICE ON AND TESTED HIS REPAIRS WITH LEAK SOAP SOLUTION. HE FOUND NO LEAKS AND WAS PREPARING TO GO INSIDE TO RELIGHT CUSTOMER'S EQUIPMENT AND A FIRE BROKE OUT OUTSIDE AT THE METERSET LOCATION AT APPROXIMATELY 14:45. THE BUSINESS OWNER AND SERVICE WORKER ATTEMPTED TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE BUT WERE UNABLE TO DO SO AND 911 WAS CALLED. THE FIRE SPREAD QUICKLY AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENTS WERE UNABLE TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE BEFORE THE BUILDING WAS A TOTAL LOSS. THE IGNITION SOURCES HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED. AT 16:10 AMEREN GAS PERSONNEL ARRIVED, LOCATED EMERGENCY VALVES, AND CONDUCTED BAR-HOLE TESTING AROUND THE PERIMETER OF 3404 GEORGIA AND THE ADJACENT STRIP MALL NEXT DOOR. NO INDICATIONS OF GAS WERE FOUND. EMERGENCY VALVES WERE NOT UTILIZED DUE TO THE BUILDING ALREADY WAS ENGULFED IN FIRE AND NATURAL GAS WAS NO LONGER FUELING THE FIRE. ONCE THE FIRE WAS CONTROLLED, THE RISER WAS EXCAVATED. DURING EXCAVATION OF THE RISER, BUBBLES BEGAN TO APPEAR IN WATER WITHIN THE EXCAVATION APPROXIMATELY 24"-30" FROM WHERE THE RISER WENT INTO THE GROUND. NO GAS READINGS COULD BE OBTAINED DUE TO EXCESSIVE WATER IN THE EXCAVATION. AMEREN CREW PERSONNEL CONTINUED TO EXCAVATE IN ORDER TO EXPOSE THE RISER AND SERVICE PIPE AND DISCOVERED A 1/2" COMPRESSION COUPLING LEAKING ON THE 1/2" CTS PE SERVICE. THE SERVICE WAS SQUEEZED OFF AT APPROXIMATELY 21:15. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT WAS SUBMITTED TO CORRECT INFORMATION ON PART B, PART C, PART D AND PART G FROM PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED REPORTS. ALTHOUGH THE SOURCE OF THE GAS RELEASE CANNOT BE CONCLUSIVELY DETERMINED, THE LEAKING COUPLING COULD NOT BE DISCOUNTED AS A POSSIBLE SOURCE AND IS THEREFORE IDENTIFIED AS THE SOURCE IN THIS SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious, not fire-first.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — JOINT/FITTING/COMPONENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $205,060 reported total cost, $102,897.333 in 1984 dollars, $253,335.764 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.