HOMES EVACUATED AFTER SDG&E CREW STRIKES GAS LINE

Story and photos by Russ Lindquist

“…SDG&E told [residents]that a small gas leak had been going on for a month or more.” Chief Andy Menshek, San Miguel Fire Department

October 29, 2011 (Mount Helix)--Safety officials evacuated two homes and ordered six others "sheltered in place" with windows and doors closed on Pandora drive on Mount Helix in La Mesa yesterday beginning at approximately 9:15 a.m. The evacuation and sheltering lasted about two hours, according to Chief Andy Menshek of the San Miguel Fire Department (SMFD) who was the "incident commander" of the event.

The Chief said that the operator of a front-end excavator had broken a gas line, a pipe approximately three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The operator works for a private contractor for San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).

On the scene, some SDG&E workers said plainly that "to fix a gas line break" was why SDG&E was on Pandora drive; other workers directed questions to their supervisor, a man in a SDG&E work-truck who did not give his name, and who, in turn, called Chris Ballard, his supervisor. Ballard instructed the supervisor in the truck to direct questions to "SDG&E Media Support."

Yvonne of SDG&E Media Support said that, as of two o'clock that afternoon, her office had no information to give about the leak on Pandora drive. When asked why SDG&E was on Pandora drive, the supervisor in the truck said "to fix a water pipe." When pressed as to whether he was, in fact, supervising a gas line break, the supervisor responded," I cannot talk about that."

In addition to Chief Menshek's SMFD, responders included the respective Fire Departments of El Cajon and La Mesa and responders from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Leonard Villarreal, Public Information Officer for the SMFD, said that no Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) team was called in for the event, and that Dig-alert reported that the gas leak was "not on the charts." Dig-alert is a government-sponsored information service that monitors locations of underground gas mains, power lines and fiber-optic cables.

Chief Menshek said that the day before, on October 28, SMFD responded to concerns by residents on Pandora Drive. “The residents said that SDG&E told them that a small gas leak had been going on for a month or more,” said the Chief. He reported later that it was unclear whether SDG&E's private contractor was on the scene to fix the ongoing leak when the machine operator ruptured the gas line. Incident Page Network also informed ECM that a leak had been reportedly ongoing for a month.

No serious long-term effects are expected at the location, and no citations for negligence are expected to be received by the operator or the private contractor, neither of whom did SDG&E identify.

Officer Villareal said that the safety responders stayed on-scene for the entire two hours of the initial event and cited the "diligence" of the responders in quickly stabilizing the situation, allowing for SDG&E to come in, at approximately 11:30 p.m., to repair the gas line.

While SDG&E workers surrounded the trench that contained the gas line, one resident, Mike (who asked that his last name not be published) walked down and asked the workers how they were doing. They said, "fine," and thanked him for asking. Mike said some of his children are construction workers elsewhere.