PUBLIC SERVICE CO OF NORTH CAROLINA — Gas distribution — incident on 2019-04-10

Gas distribution incident in DURHAM, DURHAM County, NC. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 2 fatalities, 5 injuries, 36 NATURAL GAS released, $24,381 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: 20190049.

Operator ID: 15938.

Reported incident date: 4/10/2019 10:06.

Location detail: 115 N DUKE STREET

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: EXCAVATION ISSUE

Cause detail: IMPROPER EXCAVATION PRACTICE NOT LISTED ABOVE

Cause detail: REVISION TO ORIGINAL REPORT: FINAL REPORT, D2A UPDATED TO $35,000,000, D2E UPDATED TO $35,039,922.69. DUE TO FORM TEMPLATE UPDATES, INJURED PERSONS NOT IN A10 WERE ADDED TO D4 AND D5, ADDED INFORMATION TO A8, A21A, A21B, B3B, C3C, C3D, C3F, E3A, E3B, E3C, E5, AND E6. PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NORTH CAROLINA, INCORPORATED D/B/A NAME IS DOMINION ENERGY NORTH CAROLINA. PSNC IS USED IN THIS SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE ORIGINAL REPORT. ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 10, 2019, A THIRD-PARTY TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONTRACTOR (OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY LLC), WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF BORING NEW FACILITIES VIA HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING ALONG NORTH DUKE STREET IN DURHAM, NC, DAMAGED BELOW-GROUND SERVICE LINE PIPING IN PSNCS NATURAL GAS SYSTEM. OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY'S THREE-PERSON CREW STRUCK AND DAMAGED THE SERVICE LINE FEEDING THE STRUCTURE AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET AT APPROXIMATELY 9:06AM. OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY'S CREW DID NOT CALL 911 BUT NOTIFIED NC-811, THE STATE'S ONE-CALL OFFICE, OF THE DAMAGE AT APPROXIMATELY 9:31AM. NC-811 AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED A DAMAGE TICKET, WHICH WAS DELIVERED TO PSNC AT APPROXIMATELY 9:35AM. AN ORDER WAS AUTOMATICALLY DISPATCHED TO PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER AT APPROXIMATELY 9:36AM. THE FIRST RESPONDER REVIEWED THE TICKET AT APPROXIMATELY 9:43AM AND BEGAN HEADING TO THE SITE. PSNC RECEIVED A CALL FROM 911 AT APPROXIMATELY 9:48AM, NOTING THAT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS ALREADY ON THE SCENE. PSNC'S DISPATCH CONTACTED THE FIRST RESPONDER EN ROUTE TO ADVISE HIM OF A GAS ODOR AND A DAMAGED LINE AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ISSUED A COMBINATION OF EVACUATION AND SHELTER IN PLACE ORDERS AT APPROXIMATELY 9:58AM. PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER ARRIVED AT APPROXIMATELY 10:03AM. BETWEEN HIS ARRIVAL AND APPROXIMATELY 10:06AM, PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER AS WELL AS PSNC'S DISPATCH CONTACTED ADDITIONAL PSNC RESOURCES TO ASSIST WITH SECURING AND MAKING THE GAS LEAK SAFE. AT APPROXIMATELY 10:06AM, THE STRUCTURE AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET EXPLODED. BETWEEN 10:26AM AND 10:50AM, ADDITIONAL PSNC EMPLOYEES, INCLUDING A CONSTRUCTION CREW, ARRIVED AT THE SITE. CREWS CONVENED AT THE INCIDENT COMMAND CENTER TO EVALUATE OPTIONS TO SHUT OFF THE GAS FLOW. BY 11:05AM, THE CREWS IDENTIFIED THE PROPER VALVE, SECURED THE NECESSARY TOOLS, AND, AT APPROXIMATELY 11:10AM, SHUT OFF GAS FLOW TO THE IMPACTED AREA BY CLOSING A VALVE LOCATED APPROXIMATELY THREE BLOCKS FROM THE SCENE. THE EXPLOSION ALSO SEVERELY INJURED A MEMBER OF OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY'S CREW, THE OWNER/OPERATOR OF PS SPLICING LLC (WHICH HIRED OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY TO PERFORM THE HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING WORK), PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER, AND A FIREFIGHTER. AN ESTIMATED 25 PEOPLE WERE INJURED IN THE EXPLOSION AND TAKEN TO LOCAL AREA HOSPITALS, AND 5 INDIVIDUALS WERE REPORTEDLY ADMITTED. PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER DIED IN THE HOSPITAL ON APRIL 25, 2019 AS A RESULT OF INJURIES THAT HE SUSTAINED IN THE EXPLOSION. THE EXPLOSION KILLED THE OCCUPANT OF THE STRUCTURE AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET. THE EXPLOSION RESULTED IN THE STRUCTURES AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET AND 111 NORTH DUKE STREET BEING CONDEMNED BY THE DURHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT. BOTH STRUCTURES HAVE SINCE BEEN DEMOLISHED. APPROXIMATELY 21 BUILDINGS IN TOTAL WERE REPORTEDLY DAMAGED BY THE EXPLOSION. PSNC'S INVESTIGATION HAS REVEALED THAT THE SERVICE LINE TO THE STRUCTURE AT 115 NORTH DUKE STREET WAS STRUCK AND DAMAGED DURING OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY'S HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING WORK. APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR LATER, AND ONLY 3 MINUTES AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF PSNC'S FIRST RESPONDER TO THE SCENE, THE ESCAPING GAS FROM THE DAMAGED SERVICE LINE IGNITED AND RESULTED IN THE EXPLOSION. PSNC'S UNDERGROUND FACILITIES, INCLUDING THE SERVICE LINE, WERE ACCURATELY LOCATED AND MARKED BY PSNC'S CONTRACTOR (SOUTHERN CROSS INC.) PRIOR TO THE DATE OF THE EXPLOSION, BUT OPTIC CABLE TECHNOLOGY'S CREW FAILED TO POT-HOLE AND VERIFY THE LOCATION OF THE SERVICE LINE UNDER THE SIDEWALK AS PART OF THEIR HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING WORK.

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

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $35,040,078 reported total cost, $16,418,208.417 in 1984 dollars, $40,432,795.943 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.