Trenching & Excavation Accidents 4

Trenching & Excavation Accidents #4

updated on 05/06/2010

UPDATE, Trench victim talks
By Rachael Ruiz
(Kent County, October 23, 2002, 6:10 p.m.) A Sparta man is home and feeling good tonight. The same man who was trapped in a construction trench in Grand Rapids Township for more than two hours yesterday. 32 year old Keith Zwyghuizen has a few reminders of what he calls the scariest experience of his life. “That’s the left arm they cut…” says Zwyghuizen, as he holds up the clothes he was wearing when he was caught in the trench. Rescue crews responded to call for help at Universal Forest Products on Tuesday. That’s where the 32 year old construction worker was buried in an eight foot trench, while laying a sewer line for a new building. “When I basically hit the sand in front of me to find the fiber optic line, all of a sudden I heard something coming down at me,” says Zwyghuizen. Keith says the sandy soil crashed down on his back and buried part of his body. Firefighters used plywood to support the trench walls, and after more than two hours pulled Keith to safety. “The wall that my face was looking at, could’ve come down at me at any time,” says Zwyghuizen. He says he never even thought about being buried alive until later. He say the whole experience makes him more thankful to be here today. 

BellSouth sends city $73,984 repair bill
By Russ Corey Staff Writer October 24, 2002
FLORENCE – BellSouth has presented the city with a $73,984 bill in connection with a telephone cable that was cut by a Florence Gas Department worker in July. The cable was cut by a worker operating a directional-boring machine at a work site at the intersection of Pine and Tennessee streets. The phone line provided service to about 800 downtown customers, according to a BellSouth representative. The cable was 51/2 feet to 6 feet below ground and contained 2,100 pairs of phone lines. “Outages ranged from about three days for some customers,” said Bellsouth spokesman Dave Hargrove. “It’s not only an inconvenience, but it can be crippling to businesses and a threat to public safety,” Hargrove said. “That’s why we use these type of incidents as another opportunity to tell people to call before they dig.” The gas department was in the process of replacing old cast iron gas lines with new polyethylene pipe. Gas Department Manager Roger Lovelace said in August that the workers had identified the lines on a map but would have to determine if they correctly identified the location and number of lines. Florence attorney Stewart O’Bannon Jr. said BellSouth has sent the city a letter asking that the company be compensated for the cost of repairing the damage. O’Bannon has been asked to handle the case for the city. He said it still has to be determined if the city is actually liable for the damage. The amount of the damages will also have to be verified. O’Bannon said the city would have to compensate BellSouth if it were determined that municipal workers were indeed at fault. Hargrove said it is standard procedure to seek compensation when BellSouth facilities have been damaged. “Our procedure is to follow up through the claims process, then into the legal field,” said Jim Henderson, a BellSouth clams manager for north Alabama. Henderson said the next step will be to discuss the claim with O’Bannon. “I think they’ve already had an adjuster look at the bill,” he said. 

Worker trapped in trench rescued
(Updated -Grand Rapids Twp, October 22, 2002, 6:20 p.m.) Rescuers rushed to help a worker trapped in a trench for several hours this afternoon. It happened around 1:30 p.m. at Universal Forest Products at 3 Mile and the East Beltline. Investigators say subcontractor Keith Zwyghuizen was laying down pipes when the sandy soil caved in around him. Rescuers from Kent County and Grand Rapids offered a coordinated effort to get him out. After spending more than an hour stabilizing the area, they finally pulled him out around 4 p.m. Zwyghuizen was rushed to the hospital. His injuries don’t appear to be serious. MIOSHA is investigating. 

Gas line is ripped, 5 buildings emptied 
October 22, 2002
UNION CITY – A ruptured gas line forced the evacuation of five apartment buildings yesterday on Central Avenue, according to police reports. Construction workers digging at the sidewalk in front of a building on Central Avenue between 26th and 27th streets apparently ruptured the gas line about 8:54 a.m., reports said. North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue personnel and police evacuated the apartment buildings and closed down the street, reports said. Public Service Electric and Gas personnel arrived about 9:30 a.m. to make repairs. After PSE&G checked buildings to ensure they were free of gas, residents were allowed to return, reports said. There were no illnesses and no injuries as a result of the leak, reports said. – Michaelangelo Conte 

Santana Row gas leak disrupts construction
By Glennda Chui Mercury News
A gas leak Sunday afternoon at the Santana Row housing and shopping complex in San Jose forced the evacuation of 150 to 200 construction workers, as well as shoppers at the nearby Crate & Barrel store. The leak was reported at 1:23 p.m., after a piece of construction equipment hit a pipeline, according to the San Jose Fire Department. The department sent three engines and two trucks to the scene on Winchester Boulevard. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was called in to inspect the leak, and declared the area safe three hours after the initial report. Crate & Barrel is one of a handful of stores in the development that is open for business. A disastrous fire hit the complex on Aug. 17, destroying 235 upper-floor apartments under construction and causing $70 million to $90 million in damages. The development is now scheduled to open Nov. 7. Between 45 and 55 shops are expected to open at that time. “It’s just been one thing after another,” said Joe Mastrantonio, sales manager for the Eli Thomas Menswear shop in the complex, which remained open during the incident. He said he saw a worker run down the driveway past his shop, stop and warn a motorist not to park there. “He said, `Call 911 — there’s a gas leak,’ ” Mastrantonio said, “and he ran off.” A few minutes later, he said, other workers began filing out in orderly lines. 

Downtown Chattanooga Fire Injures Three Workers
October 16, 2002
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A flash fire ignited Wednesday after a natural gas line ruptured during work on a sewer project, injuring three workers and prompting emergency officials to temporarily evacuate downtown buildings. The workers’ injuries were not life threatening. Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner said hundreds of people were evacuated for about two hours from office buildings and shops while workers tried to cap a 16-inch gas main. The fire started around 10:10 a.m., towering over street signs and a hole where a sewer project is under way near the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Market Streets. Garner said firefighters extinguished the blaze about an hour later and temporary repairs to cap the leaking gas line were completed by 1 p.m. He said East Tennessee Grading Co. workers were excavating to expose a sewer line and close it off with cement when they “started smelling fumes” and got out of the hole just before the fire started. “While out of the hole the natural gas ignited somehow. We don’t know how,” Garner said. “They said they were unaware there was a gas line in the hole.” A spokeswoman at Erlanger Medical Center said one of the injured workers was admitted to the hospital burn unit but his injuries were not life threatening. The other two injured workers were treated in the hospital emergency room but were not admitted. Garner said one of the injured men works for Davis Trucking Co.

Gas leak briefly shuts down highway
2002-10-18 by Wendy Giroux Journal Reporter
RENTON — A construction crew accidentally hit a gas main Thursday morning, causing a leak that shut down the Maple Valley Highway for about an hour and a half. “In our mind, the proximity to a major road and a 4-inch main leak — that’s pretty significant,” said Stan Engler, acting battalion chief with the Renton Fire Department. Workers were digging a hole for a light pole when they hit the line. The construction crew called 911 at about 8:45 a.m., and Renton firefighters responded to the scene a few minutes later at 152nd Avenue Southeast, just north of the Aquabarn. State Patrol troopers and Incident Response workers from the Department of Transportation closed the highway and rerouted traffic at 149th Avenue Southeast and 196th Avenue Southeast. Emergency workers sampled the air and made sure that the gas did not travel toward nearby Renton Christian School or residences, Engler said. The project to install a new bus stop, a new signal and improve lighting, will be jointly funded by Renton Christian School, King County and the state. Crews from Puget Sound Energy arrived at 9 a.m. and shut the leak down by 11:50 a.m., spokesman Tim Bader said. Workers used a new piece of equipment called a “squeezer” to pinch the plastic gas main shut on one side of the leak, then removed the squeezer after the leak was fixed, Bader said. A shut-off valve on the other side was closed during the work. Service to customers was not disrupted by the leak or by work to fix it, he said. PSE will conduct an investigation to determine how the accident occurred. 

Man’s amazing trench escape 
Oct 18 2002 By Andrew Hirst, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner
A WORKMAN cheated death when heavy machinery toppled into a trench on top of him. Firefighters had to carry out an intricate rescue to free the badly- trapped man. The drama began at 10am yesterday, when the 49-year-old man was using a large pile-driving machine to dig a deep hole at Longwood Engineering on Silver Street, Aspley. He was preparing the ground for a new office block. Station officer Alvin Crisp, of Huddersfield fire station, said: “He stopped the machine and jumped into the trench to adjust something. “The side of the hole suddenly gave way and the machine toppled on top of him, trapping him underneath.” The man’s legs were covered by earth with the machine on top putting pressure on him, and the danger was if it slid down any more it would have crushed him against the side of the hole.” Sub-officer David Kenyon added: “We put a JCB against the pile-driver to stop it moving further. Then a winch on the fire engine was hooked to the pile-driver to hold it in place. “Powerful airbags were used to stop the caterpillar tracks from moving. “Once the scene was safe, firefighters went down into the hole to rescue the man.” Firefighters used a spade to dig him free and he was then gently lifted out. The rescue operation took about an hour. The man, from Doncaster, is “comfortable” at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. His arm is broken in two places and he has a dislocated right shoulder. He also has pressure injuries to his legs. Sub-officer Kenyon added: “He was very lucky. It could have been a lot worse, especially if the steel plate supporting the pile-driver had cut into him.” 

Trench collapse man ‘critical’
October 17, 2002 19:55
A Norfolk workman remains in a “critical” condition in hospital after being crushed in a collapsed trench. The accident happened at lunchtime on Wednesday as a team of workers from Peterborough-based Barhill Construction laid pipes for a first-time sewerage scheme on behalf of Anglian Water at Gorefield, near Wisbech. Steven Wagg, 36, of Old Hunstanton Road, Old Hunstanton, was working in the trench when it appears to have collapsed under the weight of a dumper truck parked nearby. Firefighters were called to the site in Back Lane but Mr Wagg had been pulled clear of the hole by colleagues by the time they arrived. He was taken by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn with multiple broken ribs and breathing difficulties and remained in intensive care last night. The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation into the accident. 

Man crushed in tunnel
October 17, 2002 06:00
A Norfolk workman was last night fighting for his life after being crushed when a tunnel collapsed on him. The 20-year-old man from Hunstanton, who has not been named, became trapped as a digger rolled over the tunnel that he was working on in a road at Gorefield, near Wisbech. The man was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King’s Lynn suffering from multiple broken ribs and breathing difficulties, after being pulled from the hole by colleagues. Police had last night cordoned off the scene of the accident at Back Lane, as both police and officials from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation. The worker was part of a construction team from Peterborough-based Barhill Construction laying pipes for a first-time sewerage scheme on behalf of Anglian Water. A spokesman for the company confirmed there had been an accident at the site when a trench collapsed and that an ambulance had arrived at the scene within 10 minutes. Firefighters who attended the scene said it appeared that the digger had rolled over the tunnel, collapsing the wall and trapping the worker. Leading Firefighter Neil Porter, of King’s Lynn fire station, said the man had been hauled from the hole before they arrived with a crew from Wisbech, shortly after 1.20pm. “It seems the contractors had been digging a hole in the road and someone was working in the trench when there was a partial collapse to the trench, with a digger on top,” he said. “I understand he was trapped partly by the digger and partly by the trench.” An ambulance crew was called to the scene at 1.15pm, where they found the casualty with “crush injuries”. A spokesman for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust said: “He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he was immediately taken for surgery.” A spokesman for the HSE said: “I can confirm that the HSE has launched an investigation and an inspector from Luton plans to visit the site.” 

Flames Tower Over Market Street After Gas Main Breaks
Story by Beverly Young on Wed, Oct 16th 2002 (4:13 PM)
A mid-morning gas fire sends flames soaring over traffic lights in downtown Chattanooga. The fire injures three people, sending them to the hospital. Two of them are construction workers who are working below ground at the intersection of Market Street and MLK when they puncture a 16-inch gas main. The workers are not underground when the flames erupt. The workers smell something, and climb above ground, making it out just in time. Just moments after the workers climb out, the gas erupts in a ball of fire. The fire burns two of the workers and a nearby truck driver. “We find storm drains, we find gas mains that nobody knows are in there. Sometimes they’re dead, sometimes they’re alive,” says Gary Mills of East Tennessee Grading, the company whose workers puncture the gas main. Nearby construction workers on another project, know the dangers that lie beneath the ground. “You think about stuff like that all the time,” says Gary Shirley. “Something like that could happen, but that’s just a chance you take,” A chance, and a risk that is very real. “It’s kind of a wakening call when you see flames shooting up out of the road there,” says fellow worker Fred Alexander. “Everyday you take your life in your own hands.” In this case East Tennessee Grading Company workers are trying to reach a sewer line, but hit a gas main instead. Their backhoe cuts a basketball-sized hole in the main gas line that runs down Market Street. “It’s hard to see down in a hole like that,” says Shirley. “You don’t know what’s down there.” The fireball lasts for nearly an hour before firefighters manage to douse the inferno by spraying water at the source. “We’re grateful for that,” says Chattanooga Fire Department Spokesman Bruce Garner. “That the situation wasn’t worse and that the injuries weren’t worse.” Two of the three men have been released from the hospital. One was admitted to the burn unit, but is in stable condition. They all sustained flash burns. The fire affected downtown workers and drivers all morning. Several buildings near the flames were evacuated. 

T-REX workers uncover hazardous chemicals 
By Will Ryan Special to The Denver Post
Wednesday, October 16, 2002 – Potentially hazardous chemicals were found underground on a section of the T-REX project near Interstate 25 and Broadway. Workers on the $1.67 billion Transportation Expansion Project were drilling foundation piers for a new light-rail bridge Oct. 8 when they found a high concentration of fumes from what is believed to be “volatile organics,” said T-REX spokeswoman Karen Morales. One worker complained of a headache at the time, and was taken to a hospital as a precaution, Morales said. Work in the area, southwest of Broadway and Kentucky Avenue, has been stopped until an analysis is performed on the soil and workers can be outfitted to work in the presence of the chemicals. A metal plate and plastic sheeting has been placed over the hole, Morales said. The chemical, trichloroethylene, is a degreasing solvent that is not considered harmful, but organisms in the ground can break it down into other compounds that are carcinogenic. It was discovered when preliminary soil samples were taken prior to construction. It was unclear whether the site will need to be cleaned. If the chemicals were there before 1980, the state cannot mandate a cleanup of the site. “If there’s a spill that’s pre-1980, we don’t have the authority to make anyone clean it up,” said Marion Galant, a manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Galant said the department could act if the contamination represents a risk to public health. In that case, the health department or the Environmental Protection Agency would assess the site to see if it warrants Superfund status. Celia Vanderloop, director of the Denver Board of Environmental Health, said the city was made aware of the find on Thursday, but did not receive details until Tuesday. “I don’t think we know how big of a deal it’s going to be,” Vanderloop said.

Workers hit gas line in Rock Island — again
By Dustin Lemmon, Staff writer 
ROCK ISLAND — Construction crews pierced a gas line Tuesday at the intersection of 4th Avenue and 18th Street, in front of The Rock Island Argus. Kevin Waetke, director of corporate communication for MidAmerican Energy, said a crew hit a 3-inch wide line about 10:30 a.m., causing a leak that spewed into the air near the intersection’s southeast corner. MidAmerican was notified and the gas was shut off, Mr. Waetke said. The Rock Island Argus and Bituminous Insurance were without gas for a few hours Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Waetke said. Tuesday’s accident marked the third time within the past month that local construction crews have hit gas lines, requiring MidAmerican to shut them down temporarily. Mr. Waetke said the company tries to warn companies and educate them about avoiding gas lines. On Oct. 10, construction crews hit a gas line at Avenue of the Cities and 44th Street in Moline. The leak was caused when a construction crew hit a 4-inch gas line. On Sept. 19, a gas line was hit at the intersection of 12th Street and 42nd Avenue in Rock Island, when workers were paving a portion of the avenue. Mr. Waetke said gas-line leaks are not dangerous if the gas leaks openly into the air. If the gas gets trapped underground, and collects, that’s when an explosion can occur. Mr. Waetke said construction crews often will mark the locations of the lines two months in advance, but when they go to dig, the lines will have faded or be turned over by digging. “They need to identify if the line is marked,” he said. “If it’s not, call MidAmerican.” If they’re digging deep, construction crews should stop at some point and start digging by hand to avoid the larger gas lines, Mr. Waetke said. He noted that the company does see leaks happening when there are large construction projects going on. “It’s not that we expect it to happen, but certainly we aren’t surprised.” Anyone needing to locate gas lines before digging can call MidAmerican’s Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) at (800) 892-0123. 

Gas pipeline accident in Moscow localized
MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) – Moscow’s utilities services have stopped gas supplies to the damaged pipeline sections near apartment building 10/12 on Tretiy Ugreshsky Proyezd. The city’s civil defense and emergency situations department has told Interfax that there is no threat to the population. “The accident has not affected apartment buildings since the pipeline section on which the gas leak erupted is connected with the industrial zone,” explained a department’s spokesman. At present, specialists are working to repair the pipeline. The accident is blamed on a medium pressure pipe that was damaged during excavation.

Merck evacuated after gas main mishap 
MONICA THOMPSON , Staff Writer 10/16/2002 
UPPER GWYNEDD – Several dozen Merck employees were evacuated Tuesday morning after a contractor hit a PECO Energy gas line. Around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday‚ crews doing excavation work at the South Broad Street site nicked a 4-inch plastic gas supply line‚ according to Connie Wickersham‚ Merck’s manager of public affairs. The line was one of PECO’s high-pressure mains‚ according to PECO spokeswoman Cathy Engel. The line was apparently not in the exact spot where crews were told it would be‚ Wickersham said. Engel said PECO checks the lines any time they are hit by a contractor or someone doing outside work. The contractor called the PA1 Call line‚ an 800 number that notifies all the affected utilities that it would be digging in that area‚ Engel said. After such a call‚ Engel said‚ each utility goes out to the digging area and marks the individual lines. The PECO line “was accurately marked‚” Engel said. PECO crews responded to the scene‚ the gas line was shut down and the gas supply disconnected. The area was made safe around 10:45 a.m.‚ Engel said. There were no injuries. “The four buildings surrounding that area were evacuated” as a precaution‚ according to Wickersham. One is a maintenance building and the other three are used for manufacturing. Employees gathered outside Entrance 8 on South Broad Street. An alarm could be heard throughout the area‚ and fire police from Merck were set up at different areas. Merck’s fire brigade responded‚ with the Upper Gwynedd Fire Company serving as backup. Engel said the line was repaired Tuesday.

Gas leak causes brief evacuations
A natural gas leak in the 900 block of NW 13th Street caused brief evacuations and traffic to be redirected as a precaution for about an hour Monday morning. Employees of All Florida Electric Co., a private contractor working with Gainesville Regional Utilities to lay fiber optic cable for traffic signal operation, were drilling underground when they “accidentally bored into a natural gas line” parallel to 13th Street, said Dan Jesse, GRU spokesman. Gas came “gushing” out of the ditch about 9:30 a.m., and workers called Gainesville Fire Rescue to the scene on the east side of 13th Street, just south of NW 10th Avenue, Jesse said. When GFR arrived, firefighters noted a “strong odor and a heavy flow of natural gas,” said GFR spokesman Stuart Schwartz. Natural gas doesn’t have an odor, but a chemical is injected into it so that it does have an odor to aid in detection. That prompted the evacuation of adjacent homes and businesses for 35 minutes until GRU isolated the leak and shut off the supply of gas to  the area, which includes 51 homes and businesses, Jesse said. Gainesville Police redirected traffic in both directions away from the four blocks of 13th Street closest to the leak starting at about 9:45 a.m. Natural gas is not poisonous so the initial danger was that the leaking gas would catch fire instead of dissipating into the outdoor air as it eventually did, Jesse said. Because the broken gas line was next to a major roadway, it was larger and required twice the personnel as that of a normal gas leak reported at a residence, business or on a side street, Schwartz said. GRU workers located the gas line and replaced the damaged piping by early afternoon, Jesse said. Melissa Roughan of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar located just north of the gas leak said the restaurant opened at 11 a.m. as scheduled but employees were unable to cook any food until the restaurant’s gas supply was restored at about noon. Jesse said the workers drilled into the gas line because they didn’t know it wasn’t  there. “It didn’t appear on our mapping system,” Jesse said, referring to the maps that are used to show where underground utilities such as cable and telephone wiring are located so workers can drill around them. He said GRU “inherited this particular stretch of gas pipe” from Gainesville Gas Co. when GRU began providing natural gas services in 1990, but the company didn’t include the gas line on maps it provided to GRU. However, Jesse said, “We bought the company out, we certainly accept responsibility.” Although Jesse said he was unaware of a similar mapping oversight causing a gas leak before, he said GRU has line-locating crews that are “constantly improving the accuracy of the mapping” of underground piping among GRU’s 600 miles of gas lines in the area.

Workers feared buried alive at Oita mine
OITA — Police and firefighters are trying to rescue two construction workers who they fear were buried alive after earth collapsed at a closed mine in Oita Prefecture. Police have mobilized about 80 officers and members of a local fire brigade to search for the two missing workers, Hideo Watanabe, 60, and Nobuyuki Ando, 62. Watanabe and Ando, who are employees of the Kenso Kaihatsu construction company, had been operating heavy machinery since Sunday morning to remove earth that had accumulated in the compounds of Hoei Kozan’s closed zinc mine in Ogata, Oita Prefecture, in preparation to build a wall aimed at preventing contaminated sand flowing into a nearby river. After they failed to return to the Kenso Kaihatsu office, the employee supervising the work went to the scene Monday morning to find the area filled with earth and raised the alarm. Excavating equipment was found buried at around 9:40 a.m., Monday, police said. (Mainichi Shimbun, Oct. 14, 2002)

Construction Accident
Two construction workers were nearly buried alive Thursday after an accident at a job site in Monroe County. One of the men had to be air lifted to Roanoke. It happened in Peterstown. Emergency officials say a resque squad pulled Will Thomas and Leroy Ballard out of a ditch that they were digging for K L Vess Construction. Apparently a wall fell on top of them buring them alive. Both are in stable condition at an area hospital. The site is being excavated for the future satellite location of the Monroe Health Center.

Gas pipe puncture ties up Wayne traffic
Friday, October 11, 2002
WAYNE – Construction workers struck an underground gas pipe Thursday morning, causing traffic tie-ups along Hamburg Turnpike. Excavation crews were working at an office plaza under construction on Hamburg Turnpike near Shearwater Lane when a gas drip riser was punctured, police said. Public Service Electric and Gas Co. spokeswoman Leslie Cifelli said a drip riser connects gas mains to gas meters. The puncture did not cause a major leakand crews were able to repair the damage quickly because the area around it had already been excavated, Cifelli said. However, the accident caused Hamburg Turnpike to be shut for more than two hours. “It was kind of crazy for a while because they were trying to get enough units up there to close off the road,” said Detective Lt. John Reardon. Hamburg Turnpike between Hinchman Avenue and Ratzer Road was closed, and several police cars were required to close roads emptying onto Hamburg. The utility company had to shut the gas main for 20 minutes, affecting an empty home for sale and the local Teamsters building. Ashanti M. Alvarez

Gas Leak Causes Scary Moments
A gas leak lead to some scary moments for some West Louisville residents Friday morning. A contractor was working to install a water pipe when he accidentally hit a gas line at 17th and Garland Streets. Fire officials blocked off an area around the gas leak to make sure it didn’t affect residents. Some nearby residents were asked to keep their windows closed as crews worked to fix the problem. LG&E crews and the Fire Department were able to quickly get the situation under control. There are no reports of injuries. Crews are working to restore service to about two dozen customers. 

Man Buried Alive 
A Savannah man had close call this morning: he was buried alive. The man works for US General, the construction company hired to build one of the area’s newest restaurants, the Macaroni Grill at Oglethorpe Mall. He was inside, digging a hole for two 2,500-gallon grease traps when it caved in, covering him with mud. Thanks to his coworkers, he was only buried for a very short time. “Two or three of his fellow coworkers jumped down and uncovered his face and head so he could be able to breath, and they just uncovered him and waited for paramedics to arrive,” said general manager Phil McConnell. The workers were supposed to wait for some steel reinforcements to arrive before they started digging, but decided to work without the reinforcements in an attempt to beat the rain. The buried man was rushed to the hospital, where he later died in surgery.

Workers able to stop gas leak
By Kevin Crossett / The News & Advance Oct 8, 2002
A ruptured 4-inch natural gas main at the intersection of Old Forest and Forest Brook roads caused delays Monday afternoon as police and fire officials rerouted motorists through area parking lots. Construction workers ruptured the line while boring into the roadbed on Old Forest Road. Fire Capt. Russell Ayscue said his engine company drove past the intersection of Old Forest and Forest Brook roads about 3 p.m. when they noticed the leak. “We were just coming by and smelled the gas,” he said. “We had a lot of gas pouring across the road and cars were driving through.” Firefighters and police officers set up roadblocks to isolate the area and called in Columbia Gas employees who used a combustible gas meter to sample the potentially flammable environment. They closed valves on Old Forest Road and Lakeside Drive that fed into the broken line. Ayscue said even after workers shut off the gas to the line, it would take a while to purge the escaping gas. Emergency crews cleared the scene after most of the gas dissiated. By 5:30 p.m., the northbound lane of Old Forest Road was reopened to traffic. Gas employees remained to repair the line. There were no estimates on how long the repairs would take. “It was a potentially bad situation,” Ayscue said. “I’m actually relieved that nothing bad happened.” No one was injured in the incident, though Battalion Chief Gary Regan said there are some unseen dangers associated with these types of leaks. Gas filled the underground shaft containing the broken pipe. Regan said it could travel some distance before seeping to the surface. Emergency workers are often concerned of gas seeping into residential pipes that lead inside area homes, he said. There was little chance of that happening in this case, he added, because no residential lines were in the shaft. “The worst part of it is that people will be without gas … while repairs are being made,” he said.

N. Huntingdon gas leak causes brief evacuation 
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
By Ernie Hoffman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer 
Residents of up to two dozen houses were evacuated as a precaution after a contractor struck a gas line in North Huntingdon this morning. The accident occurred in the Bella Mia development after 9 a.m. A crew digging a water line struck the gas line belonging to Dominion Peoples. Repairs were made and people returned to their homes before 11:30. No one was injured.

Road work mishap cuts phone lines
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETE BEACH — A worker digging a trench for the Blind Pass Road widening project severed Verizon telephone lines Tuesday morning, cutting off phone service to thousands of customers in St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island. Residents couldn’t call 911, businesses couldn’t accept credit cards and the Department of Transportation’s Blind Pass Road project earned even more ire from people affected by the protracted road work. Verizon estimated that 13,500 customers lost telephone service for the day. Verizon spokesman Bob Elek, said it might be as late as today before service is restored. By Tuesday evening, 911 service had been restored. St. Pete Beach fire Chief Fred Golliner said the county’s emergency dispatchers have a backup system to reach the city’s firefighters and police officers. The problem will be with callers who cannot get a dial tone. City Manager Mike Bonfield said he did much of his business by cellular phone Tuesday but with so many people trying to use cellular service he sometimes could not get a signal. About 11 a.m. Tuesday, a DOT subcontractor digging trenches cut lines in front of a Verizon central office, which acts as a sort of railroad station for telephone lines. Elek said repairs may be slow because the cut was 15 feet underground and involved several different lines.

Trench collapses, killing man in Andover, Contractor removing dirt with a pick when cave-in occurred
By Darran A. Simon, Daily Record
ROCKAWAY TWP. – An Andover contractor working in a 15-foot deep trench died Monday afternoon after the trench partially collapsed on him, authorities said Monday. The victim Dennis R. Benson, a 43-year-old self employed contractor, was removing dirt with a pick in the 4- by 50-foot trench during the construction of a home at 173 Lake Shore Drive, when the collapse occurred around 4:18 p.m., said Lt. Jeffrey Paul, spokesman for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Benson had been hired by the property owner to remove the loose dirt in the trench, which was the footing for the house, county and township authorities said. Benson was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m. at St. Clare’s Hospital/Denville, Paul said. Rockaway Township Sgt. Walt Ardin said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and chest. He said the homeowner, who was in the part of the trench that did not collapse, was not hospitalized. Ardin said a third contractor at the site heard the screams of the homeowner in the trench. Ardin said n either person in the trench was wearing a helmet. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office has spoken to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) representative who will determine whether the agency has any jurisdiction, Paul said Monday. Rockaway Township Engine Co. Five and MICU Unit 55 responded.

UPDATE, Co. Cited in Wash. Pipeline Blast 
WASHINGTON (AP)–The National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday that a 1999 pipeline explosion that killed three people in Bellingham, Wash., was caused by an excavation project five years earlier, compounded by the pipeline company’s failure to inspect the pipe. At a meeting Tuesday, an NTSB panel cited damage to the pipe caused by IMCO General Construction Co., which was conducting excavation work at a nearby water treatment plant in 1994. Olympic Pipeline Co., which operates the pipeline, inadequately inspected the excavation work and failed to identify or repair damage, the safety board found. While Olympic did not know about the 1994 water plant excavation at the time, reports provided later were sufficient to justify digging up the area to examine the pipeline and determine the extent of any damage, the NTSB found. “The company did not perform the work and thus did not identify the true extent of the damage,” the NTSB found. The report by the safety board also cited a faulty computer system run by Olympic, which it said failed to respond to repeated indications that pressure was building up inside the pipeline. If the computer system had been operating properly, “the controller operating the pipeline probably would have been able to initiate actions that would have prevented the presure increase that ruptured the pipeline,” the report said. The report also faulted Olympic for failing to adequately train its employees, including pipeline inspectors and computer operators. Olympic also failed to test safety devices associated with a relief valve that could have prevented the explosion.

UPDATE, Man who lost leg in workplace accident files lawsuit 
VALPARAISO, Ind.- A man who lost his right leg after it was crushed inside heavy machinery has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50 million in damages. Jordan Moore, 23, lost his leg when it was caught in a corrugating machine at the Jet Corr plant near Valparaiso. The lawsuit filed last week in Porter Superior Court said Jordan was conscious and trapped in the machine for more than an hour as paramedics and co-workers worked to free his crushed and shredded leg. Moore’s attorney, Kenneth J. Allen, said Friday that Moore is recuperating from another surgery caused by sores from his prosthetic leg. “Jordan will never recover what he has lost, but perhaps we can compel some safety changes through a jury verdict,” Allen said. After the March 10, 2001, accident, plant supervisor Jerome Wilson told police Moore had gotten up on the top of the conveyer belt as a piece of cardboard had become jammed. He was trying to free it when his leg became caught. Wilson said Moore should not have been up on the machine. The lawsuit was filed against the German manufacturer of the equipment, BHS Corrugated Maschinen und Anlagenbau, GmbH; its American subsidiary, BHS Corrugated North America Inc. based in Baltimore, Md.; and the contractor that installed the machinery, Hunter Corp. of Portage. The defendants could not be reached for comment. Phone messages were left Friday and Saturday at Hunter Corp.’s Portage office. A woman who answered the phone at BHS Corrugated in Baltimore said no one was available to comment Friday. A message was left at BHS Corrugated on Saturday. Information from: Merrillville Post-Tribune

Thousands evacuated after downtown gas leak 
‘You can bet this is going to cost the gas company a couple of bucks,’ police spokesman says 
Josh Rubin, thestar.com staff 
Thousands of bewildered office workers clogged downtown streets today after a gas leak forced the evacuation of at least two office buildings. “It’s a high-pressure gas leak, and we’re evacuating buildings,” said Toronto police spokesman Jim Muscat early this afternoon. “You can bet this is going to cost the gas company a couple of bucks.” A backhoe tearing up part of Adelaide St. E. near Victoria St. for a new streetcar track ripped a hole in a gas line just after 1:30 this afternoon, police explained. A power line was also damaged. Muscat said at least two buildings near the corner of Adelaide and Yonge streets had been evacuated, and added police and fire crews had not yet decided whether to evacuate any others. The affected area was a rectangle bounded by Jarvis, York, King and Queen Sts. The roar of escaping gas could be heard across the downtown core in the early afternoon, and seemed to be coming from Adelaide, where construction crews had torn up asphalt as part of ongoing road work. “This is a very volatile situation,” one police officer could be heard shouting at passersby and others who were trying to get back into their buildings. “You’ve got to move now!” “I walked out on to our terrace to see what the noise was, and I was nearly knocked over – the sound was so loud,” said Denis Robichaud, whose office overlooks the site of the accident. “It was absolutely deafening.” Two people were taken hospital with minor injuries, said Toronto police Sgt. Robb Knapper. One of them was the police officer supervising the work, he explained. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the officer, a gas mask fitted to his face, being taken away by ambulance. Subway service in the downtown core, which had been closed between Bloor/Yonge station and St. Andrew’s, reopened at 3pm, said TTC spokesperson Marilyn Bolton. TTC bus and streetcar routes in the downtown core are another matter, however. “It’s going to be messy for a while,” Bolton explained. GO service was not affected. At Sul Posto restaurant on Adelaide just east of Yonge, manager Ian Rogers said several customers had to lave their lunches in mid-bite as the building was evacuated. Rogers said be could smell gas as soon as he stepped outside. “It’s pretty unbelievable,” he said “It’s a good thing for us this didn’t happen an hour earlier, or it would have been right in the middle of our rush.” “It’s kind of frustrating,’ said Rebecca Malke, who works at 1 Adelaide St. E, which was evacuated. “I don’t know whether to go home now or try and stick it out.” “They won’t let me back into my building,” said Allison Taylor, one of thousands cramming the sidewalks near Adelaide St. E. and Victoria St. “I’ve got my car keys and my wallet in there.” By 2:30, the smell of gas had largely dissipated.

Construction worker rescued from dirt-wall collapse 
By LARRY HARTSTEIN 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer 
The worker had been trapped from the waist down. A 23-year-old construction worker suffered only cuts and bruises when a dirt wall collapsed in a Snellville subdivision Thursday afternoon. The worker, identifed as Domingo Hernandez, was trapped from the waist down for nearly an hour. He was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville after the accident, treated and released, hospital spokeswoman Paula Martin said. The accident happened about 2:15 p.m. Thursday at 945 Havenstone Walk. “They were doing some excavating in a new subdivision,” Fire Department Lt. David Dusik said. “[Hernandez’] back was near a large dirt wall that was part of an existing house, and the wall collapsed, pinning him.” Hernandez was conscious and alert when firefighters arrived at 2:19 p.m. The heavy rescue team “just ended up using shovels, digging until we got close to him,” Dusik said

Worker dies on the job
By Ryan Broome 
A ST. JOHN family was plunged into mourning yesterday, following an early-morning freak accident that left one man dead and another hospitalised in stable condition. The events unfolded around 10:15 a.m. near the Garfield Sobers Roundabout, where construction firm T.W. Enterprises was carrying out excavation work to lay cable pipelines under contract by the Barbados Light & Power. Two workers on the site, Devere Jarvis, 49, of Newcastle St. John, and Barry Niles, 23, of Kendall Hill, Christ Church, were both reportedly standing near the edge of a trench, which had earlier been dug, when the ground beneath them gave way, sending both men tumbling into the approximately 15-foot deep opening. Rubble from the surface and from the sides of the trench fell on top of them and their nearby colleagues wasted no time in getting a rescue effort under way and alerting the emergency services. Chever Birchwood, 33, was one of the workers who helped to clear the rubble off the two men. After a frantic search, the workers found that Niles still seemed to be breathing, but they also noticed that Jarvis appeared to be motionless. They eventually managed to pull Niles free. Ambulance personnel arrived on the scene and whisked Niles to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), where he remained a patient up to late yesterday. While on the scene, emergency medical technicians also checked Jarvis’ condition, but found no signs of life. Before long, scores of police officers, fire officers, Barbados Defence Force soldiers and curious onlookers converged on the scene. Lawmen blocked off the section of road leading from the roundabout to the traffic lights junction at Wildey, and passing traffic slowed to a crawl. Jarvis remained in the trench for just over two hours, before personnel from the Two Sons Funeral Home arrived to remove his lifeless body. During that time, some of the dead man’s relatives and his pastor, Bishop Cameron Nicholls, arrived on the scene after hearing the news. Jarvis’ sister-in-law Margaret Dowridge described him as a kind-hearted, jovial person and a regular church-goer. She said he was originally from Vauxhall, Christ Church and has been married to her sister, Sherie, a nurse at the QEH, for more than 20 years. Dowridge also added that Jarvis had three children – Lynn-Marie, Brian and David. “He actually met her (wife) in church,” she said. Bishop Nicholls, of the Acts Deliverance Tabernacle in Goodland, St. Michael recalled Jarvis as a devout Christian, who was very supportive. “We are very sad at this incident…I feel deeply hurt,” he said. BL&P’s managing director Andrew Gittens also went on the scene and he expressed shock and sorrow about the incident.

Gas leak ties up traffic on Alcoa Highway
by Anna C. Irwin, of The Daily Times Staff
A natural gas leak at Chilhowee RV Sales Wednesday afternoon during Alcoa Highway’s daily peak period snarled traffic for an hour and a half. Alcoa Police and Fire Departments responded to a 4:26 p.m. report of the leak and shut down the highway for about 15 minutes while a troubleshooter from Atmos Energy, formerly United Cities Gas Co., was on his way to the scene. The highway’s northbound lanes and one southbound lane were re-opened after the flow of natural gas was partially blocked with dirt packed into a post hole where the gas line had been breached. The temporary dirt plug was weighed down with three bags of quick-setting concrete waiting near the hole to set the post. Army, Navy and More — a business very near the leak site at the corner of the Chihowee RV lot — closed early, but workers at Chilhowee were not evacuated since they were some distance away from the gas leak and the situation appeared to be under control. The three-quarter-inch line with 80 pounds of pressure was punctured as workers from Ace Fencing Co. of Knoxville put in posts for a new fence around the recreational vehicle sales lot. The leak occurred only a few feet from a sign warning of underground gas lines. A check with the gas company showed the fence company had heeded the warning sign and contacted the gas company before digging. A gas company worker had been to the scene and marked the location of both the gas main alongside the shoulder of Alcoa Highway at the front of the business as well as the service line coming off the main and running to the business. The broken lines of bright orange spray paint for the main and bright yellow for the service line were visible on the pavement and into the graveled lot near the partially plugged post hole emitting a strong natural gas odor. There was an occasional puff of dust as pressure built, then broke a pinhole in the dirt. But, the plug kept most of the gas flowing through instead of out of the line. The gas escaping from the leak was quickly dispersed by a light breeze. Atmos worker notices However, the odor was strong enough on the highway to prompt an Atmos worker driving home from work and unaware of the leak to pull in and check out the situation. Jimmy Walker said he smelled the gas and didn’t see co-worker Benny Farmer’s truck until after he stopped. He stayed to help as another co-worker, Ronnie Rohrer, and construction supervisor Wes Buchanan arrived and Farmer left to check a report of a natural gas odor in a residence on the other side of the county. Meanwhile, Alcoa firefighters stood by, ready to deal with the possibility of the leaking gas being ignited. Several Alcoa officers worked to keep traffic moving as motorist gawked to see what had traffic backed up a mile and a half north of the site. Two more officers were working a traffic accident that occurred near the airport soon after the gas leak was reported. Blount County Sheriff’s deputies took over Alcoa police calls for service while Alcoa’s evening shift scheduled on the road at 8 p.m. was asked to report for duty almost three hours early. The construction crew was ready when Atmos backhoe operator Scott Graves finally arrived. Graves tried to avoid turning across the southbound traffic by taking Topside Road to a point north of the leak site. He got caught in the traffic backup and finally reached the scene with the help of an officer who was dispatched to assist him. Graves quickly moved his backhoe into place and started digging at 5:45 p.m. Other Atmos workers were ready and, as soon as the leak was exposed, the flexible line was clamped off and the leak was stopped at 5:55 p.m. All traffic lanes on the highway were reopened shortly after 6 p.m. while the gas line was quickly repaired. The damaged section of line was cut away, a new section spliced in, the clamp holding back the gas flow was removed and the hole was filled in with dirt.

Gas leak forces evacuations in Flint Twp.; Authorities say there was the possibility of an explosion
By abc12.com
Flint Twp. — (10-02-02)–A construction crew working on a water line hit a gas line this morning in Flint Township…filling the air with natural gas. Firefighters sealed off traffic within a half-mile of the intersection of Dye and Lennon where the rupture happened. Homes in the immediate vicinity were evacuated, until Consumers Energy contained the leak within a couple of hours. Authorities say there was the possibility of an explosion. “Well, with the gas going there was the hazard of explosion or ignition at some point, so we evacuated the area,” said Flint Twp. Capt. John Ringwelski. Traffic is now back to normal in the area. 

Gas leak forces an evacuation 
DANIEL J. SERNOVITZ , Staff Writer 
TELFORD – Emergency crews evacuated four residences on East Reliance Road Tuesday afternoon when a Verizon work crew replacing two utility poles dug into an unmarked‚ underground natural gas line. PECO Energy Co. spokeswoman Cathy Engel said crews responded to the scene‚ between South Hamilton Avenue and Main Street on the Bucks County side of the borough‚ at about 1:48 p.m. after a Verizon crew digging a hole in the ground dug into the 4-inch plastic line. The smell of gas hung in the mid-afternoon air Tuesday as it seeped from the ground around a mechanical auger that pierced the line earlier in the day. Officials evacuated four homes downwind of the odor. Service was restored by 4:15 p.m.‚ Engel said. PECO will continue to investigate why the line‚ installed in 1997 to serve a nearby housing development‚ was unmarked. She said the company also will try to find out why the line was not identified under the Pennsylvania One Call system‚ which notifies municipalities and utility companies about work to be done in a specific area. “We will look into the situation surrounding why the lines were not marked‚” Engel said. Police Chief Doug Bickel said Verizon did its job by notifying the one-call system‚ and charges against the company are not anticipated. “Verizon did what they were supposed to do‚” Bickel said. Responding to the location were the Telford Borough Police Department‚ the Telford Fire Co.‚ the Souderton Ambulance and North Penn Goodwill.

UPDATE, Injured worker dies at Strong
YORK — A Livingston County man injured in an excavation accident Sept. 13 died Monday at Strong Memorial Hospital. Carl Deming, 44, of Leicester was searching for a broken water line at Lawnel Farms when a wall of dirt fell on him and covered him. Deming died about 2:30 p.m., hospital officials said.

Workers Rupture Gas Line 
Utility workers digging a water line struck a natural gas pipe in a neighborhood just north of the Springfield city limits Wednesday afternoon. One of the employees of City Utilities suffered burns on his hands and face, but was not believed to be seriously injured. The accident happened about 3:30 p.m. in the 1900 East Burntwood in the Woodland Heights subdivision. Witnesses say the gas line ruptured sent flames 30 feet into the air. Deputies with the Greene County Sheriff’s office blocked off access to the subdivision just east of Highway H and Valley Water Mill Road for about an hour until C-U was able to cut off the flow of gas through the pipe. No other injuries were reported. Damage was confined to the gas line – no homes were affected.

Leak causes Romeoville evacuation 
Normantown Road: Gas leak snarls traffic, leaves residents angry 
By Kim Smith, STAFF WRITER 
ROMEOVILLE — Nearly 20 homes had to be evacuated and parts of Normantown Road were shut down for seven hours Friday due to a gas leak. Carmen Morales, community relations director for Nicor Gas, said the gas company was contacted around 8:19 a.m. to the south side of Normantown Road near the entrance of the Haley Meadows subdivision. “We arrived by 8:32 a.m.,” Morales said. “An excavation contractor apparently hit a 6-inch main.” Traffic had to be rerouted, and cars were not allowed near the street where the gas could visibly be seen gushing out of the ground nearly a quarter of a mile away. “We had to shut off all the utilities to the homes in the area,” said Fire Chief Carl Churulo. “This is about the fourth time this year something like this has happened.” Little colored flags and orange markings on the street indicating JULIE (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators) had been called were visible nearby. The law requires people to contact JULIE at least two working days in advance of the start a digging project. Churulo said no such flags were found where the contractor had been digging. “To me, that means don’t dig,” Churulo said. “We will be out there looking into this again on Monday.” If it is found that the contractor is at fault, the village usually will go after the company to recoup their losses for the day, Churulo said. Romeoville Emergency Management Agency volunteers were also on the scene helping to reroute traffic. Some said people were being quite rude when they found they could not get into their homes. “We are here for their safety, and you wouldn’t believe what they say,” said one of the volunteers. “They want to check on their dogs. They have left their children home alone. They may have left their stoves on. They get mad when I tell them they can’t drive down their street.” Stephanie Jones, a nearby resident, said there was a strong odor in the air when she returned home from school late Friday morning. “It really is kind of scary,” Jones said. “I hope we don’t all wake up with headaches.” Traffic was also in a snarl in the Lakewood Estates subdivision all day. Dawn Palomar, who lives on the corner of Winnebago and Michigan drives, said it was the traffic that alerted her to a problem when she awoke shortly after 8 a.m. “My daughter had a sleepover since there was no school,” Palomar said. “They wanted McDonald’s for breakfast, and I had to go all the way to Bolingbrook to get around because I couldn’t get through to Weber Road.” Palomar was quick to point out how trucks were having trouble diverting through the residential streets. She is one of many Lakewood Estates and Haley Meadows homeowners who are against a proposed commercial development on Normantown Road. “I hope officials see how this traffic is impacting our subdivision,” Palomar said. “If there is a shopping center there, it could be like this all the time.” Churulo said Nicor workers were checking out the evacuated homes before letting residents back in Friday afternoon. “They helped them relight their pilots and wil make sure the leak did not cause any more damages,” Churulo said. Four warehouse businesses and 26 residential customers were left without power most of the day. Morales said that as of 5:45 p.m., all but four customers who were not at home had their power restored. “They were issued blue tags, and we will come out whenever they call,” Morales said. “It was a good call to have those homes evacuated. The wind was blowing the gas right to them.”

UPDATE, Family angry over trench death
By Robert Armengol, Staff Writer
They say a Doylestown firm did not do enough to protect Frank Ricci, who was overcome and died while applying a waterproofing glue on a foundation. When Dan Ricci closes his eyes at night, he can’t sleep. He sees his older brother, Frank, coughing, then gasping for breath, his body seemingly paralyzed, his eyes glazed over. Dan relives the moment he hopped into a concrete box to save his brother from the toxic fumes that had overpowered Frank’s more than 250-pound frame. He hears his boss from above urging him to get out, then saying, “It’s over.” He begins to pass out, too. Frank Ricci, 36, a Philadelphia construction worker, died Sept. 10 while spraying waterproofing glue on the foundation of a new home in New Britain Township. He was trapped in a narrow compartment 9 feet deep when the glue’s fumes caused him to faint. Dan, who collapsed over his brother’s body, was saved by the quick work of two police officers and a team of local firefighters. A husband and father of three young children, Ricci lives now with the weight of survivor’s guilt. “If I could send a message to my brother, I’d want him to know that I tried,” Ricci said, slumped on the couch of his rowhouse in Philadelphia, fighting back tears. “I just want him to know I tried.” Ricci and his family also live with anger. They say Dale Waterproofing Systems Inc., the Doylestown company the brothers worked for, didn’t do enough to protect them. Dan says he’s upset with the story his boss told on the day of the accident, which placed the blame on his older brother. Mark Oristaglio, the company’s general manager, had arrived at the work site off Creek Road late in the morning, just as Frank Ricci was passing out. It was Oristaglio who realized Frank wasn’t responding, and it was he who called for rescuers when the situation turned grave. But Oristaglio later faulted Frank for not wearing a protective respirator. He said he had “lectured” the elder Ricci about it earlier in the day. Dan Ricci denies such a lecture ever took place. While it’s true Frank wasn’t using the gas mask when he fell ill, his brother said that was because the filters in the respirator had failed. And Dan claims neither of them knew how dangerous the waterproofing glue – known as Rub-R-Wall – could be, especially when sprayed in confined areas, where its fumes can drive oxygen from the air. The company, for the most part, has declined to comment on the accident, which federal officials are investigating. A receptionist for owner and chief executive Thomas Dale refused two requests to reach him by phone at his West Chester office. Oristaglio declined to go into detail about the facemasks the company had supplied or what kind of training the brothers had. He said he was sorry for the family’s loss but didn’t want to say much because he expects the case to end up in court. “I’ve attempted to contact Dan a few times,” Oristaglio said. “He didn’t seem to want to talk to me really. I’m trying not to intrude or impose myself. I just sent word that if there’s anything they needed, to let us know.” When he’s awake, Dan Ricci has trouble eating. He keeps replaying the events of Sept. 10. Before their boss returned from another site, he said, he and Frank were the only two workers at the home on Creek Road. As noon approached, the brothers had finished most of the foundation. All that was left was a garage and side entrance, where the foundation is bounded by a separate, outer wall. Frank was spraying inside that section when he first began to feel dizzy, Dan said. Frank stood in a box about 9 feet down, 5 feet long and barely 3 feet wide, while Dan, above ground, maneuvered a hose supplying the Rub-R-Wall. Dan said Frank stopped at one point, emerged from below and took a quick break to clear his head. “I can’t even get focused,” Frank said as he took off his respirator, according to his brother. “This thing is blown.” Dan said his brother placed the mask atop the foundation and went back to work. “If the cartridges are blown,” Dan said as he recounted the day, “it will smell worse in the mask than in the air.” Experts confirmed that such masks, if they aren’t working, can become more of a hazard than a help. “They can actually increase the breathing resistance you experience, so that they are uncomfortable to wear,” said Cole Miller, a safety consultant in Yardley. But why Frank Ricci continued to work under such conditions, without a mask, may forever remain a mystery. “I think he just wanted to finish the job,” Dan said. The Ricci brothers had been working less than a year for Dale Waterproofing and another firm with the same ownership, Modern Home Insulation. They installed insulation until switching to waterproofing about three months ago, Dan said. They made about $450 a week, before taxes. The brothers’ training came largely on the job, Dan said. He said they had not received a training manual or written safety guidelines. He was surprised to learn that government-mandated precautions for Rub-R-Wall require workers to read the safety instructions. Those procedures say workers must use “organic vapor respirators.” But for some confined spaces, the guidelines call for a much greater precaution: a self-contained oxygen supply, not unlike the scuba gear used by underwater divers. The hydrocarbon solvents emitted when a worker applies Rub-R-Wall, experts said, are heavier than air. In a box like the one where the Riccis became trapped, the vapors can quickly fill the compartment, pushing all breathable air upward. That kind of oxygen deprivation, the product guidelines say, “can cause dizziness, unconsciousness or death.” The county coroner is still waiting for a toxicology report, but he has said asphyxia, rather than poisoning, might have been the ultimate cause of Frank Ricci’s death. According to Dan Ricci, another waterproofing worker had complained the day before the accident about his own mask, saying the filters were shot. The next morning, when crews were receiving their assignments, Dan said he asked about the filters. Dan claimed that Oristaglio said he had not had time to buy new ones. Instead, his boss offered his own filters for the one mask that Dan and his brother received. Dan said the filters were used, not new, but he was told they were good for “at least one more house.” Frank Ricci was Dan’s only brother. They were close. They weren’t often assigned to the same job, but they chatted by cell phone on the way to work or on breaks, sometimes two or three times a day. On the weekends, they watched football together. Their family played a game – each would try to guess the winners in Sunday’s NFL matches and, at the end of the day, they would see who scored the best. Frank wasn’t married, but he had a girlfriend. He was getting ready to buy a house, Dan said. The day Frank died, just as he was becoming incoherent, Dan rushed down the hole after his boss, and together they tried to revive him. Oristaglio slapped Frank in the face – “hard,” he remembers – and got no response. When Oristaglio climbed out of the foundation, Dan stayed behind. He couldn’t leave his brother. “Frank, don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me,” Dan remembers saying. “Come on, let’s go. Let’s go.” Oristaglio said he yelled for Dan to “get out of there.” Dan said he yelled for his boss to throw him the respirator, then heard this reply: “That won’t work. There’s no oxygen down there. It’s over.” Dan said he tried pushing his brother up the ladder, but only got Frank’s legs up one or two rungs before he too was overcome. He said his boss didn’t lean down to help. Oristaglio defended his actions. “There was no way I could physically get him up that ladder,” he said. “I really felt my next step was to call 911.” New Britain Township police Officer Shawn Knight was the first rescuer on the scene. When he arrived at the construction site, Dan Ricci had already collapsed atop his brother, scraping his arm and head on the way down. Knight approached the hole and was almost immediately overwhelmed by the Rub-R-Wall vapors. “It was an ungodly adhesive smell,” Knight said. “It was like climbing inside a tube of model glue with no air.” Knight knew he had to do something, he said, but jumping into the hole at that point was not an option. As luck would have it, Knight is one of a few officers in his department with an oxygen tank in the trunk of his patrol car. He retrieved the tank, turned the nozzle all the way up, and dropped a mask tethered to a tube onto Dan Ricci’s face at the bottom of the pit. Officer Robert Burkhardt, who was right behind Knight, took over after a few minutes, holding the line attached to the oxygen mask in place until a fire rescue crew suited up with full breathing gear. When Burkhardt was finally relieved, he said, he emerged with an instant headache, feeling light-headed and dizzy and sick to his stomach. Dan recovered quickly in the hospital and went home the next day. The two officers were treated for exposure to the fumes, but were back on the job in less than 24 hours. Like Dan, they say they wish they could have done more. “Yeah, I feel like we saved someone’s life,” Knight said. “We’d like to have saved them both, but we didn’t. It kind of takes some of the luster off of being a hero.”

One dies in farm accident in Cleveland
CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland man died Friday after a backhoe backed into the grain pit he was cleaning out. David Washington, 75, died from the injuries, assistant coroner Butch Prescott said. Washington was working with friend Henry Thompson when the accident happened. “He (Thompson) accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake,” Bolivar County Sheriff H.M. “Mack” Grimmett said. “And it jumped into the hole with him. It was one of those freak accidents.”

Woman dies in farm accident
STAFF REPORT
DUETTE — A 63-year- old migrant farmworker died Saturday morning after being pulled into a ditch digging machine. Petra Jaimez-Perez was working at Lipman & Lipman Farms on Duette Road, two miles south of State Road 62. Workers were digging trenches for drainage pipes when the accident occurred at about 10 a.m., Manatee County Emergency Medical Services Capt. Jeff Bliss said.

Traffic crawls after crew hits gas line 
A road-construction crew broke a gas line Thursday afternoon in West Ashley, forcing Charleston police to reroute traffic for several hours along a section of Ashley River Road. The construction crew, which is working on widening the intersection of Ashley River Road and Tobias Gadson Boulevard, was digging up concrete storm-drainage pipes around 3 p.m. when a backhoe pulled up a three-quarter-inch copper service line that was connected to a 6-inch main beneath the road, said Kevin Benjamin, the construction supervisor. Workers smelled the gas, plugged the line and notified South Carolina Electric and Gas, which sent a work crew to repair the line. The gas service line wasn’t marked, Benjamin said. Meanwhile, Charleston Police closed a section of Ashley River Road as a precaution and rerouted traffic while the workmen, donning gas masks, repaired the line. A handful of residents from nearby Moss Creek Apartments walked to the accident site to see what was going on. Bill Wilson went to investigate when he hd about the gas-line break on the 5 p.m. television news. “No one came and knocked on the door to warn us. You got to come out for yourself and see how safe or how bad it is,” he said. Motorists from William Kennerty Drive trying to make a right turn onto Ashley River Road were rerouted to Tobias Gadson. Police also blocked traffic onto Ashley River Road from Glenn McConnell Boulevard. A stream of drivers took Tobias Gadson. to reach Ashley River Road, but were forced to make an about-face when they found the road blocked. The northbound lane of Ashley River Road was expected to reopen by 8 p.m., police said. A call to South Carolina Electric and Gas was not returned.

UPDATE, Man in ditch collapse doing better
By Staff, New Castle News 
A New Wilmington man who suffered internal injuries when a ditch collapsed on him a week ago has been upgraded to good condition. Jim Cooper, 31, of New Wilmington, is recovering at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was airlifted there from the scene of the accident that occurred the afternoon of Sept. 13 on an Amish farm on Fayette-Neshannock Falls Road in Wilmington Township. Cooper, his father and brother were hired by an Amish family to dig a water line to a spring on their property.

Workers save man from flooded pit
By LISA GOODNIGHT, Staff Writer
ORADELL – Police on Saturday said a United Water worker was lucky to be alive, following an accident that left him submerged under water for several seconds. Daniel Munoz of Bergenfield was in a 12-foot-deep pit when a pipe burst Friday around 2 p.m. on Oradell Avenue. Water gushed into the hole and covered him. “A hand came up,” said Patrolmen Peter Cimelli, adding that Munoz’s colleagues rushed to pull him out. “He was a big strong guy and that’s probably what saved him.” Reached by phone, a woman identifying herself as Munoz’s wife said her husband didn’t want to say anything about the accident to a reporter. Federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration workers were called to the scene. Terri Guess, a United Water spokeswoman, said Munoz, who has been with the company for at least seven years, was taken to the Hackensack University Medical Center. “He was shaken up,” Guess said. “He didn’t have any injuries. We wanted to take him there for precautionary measures.” Guess said Munoz was part of a crew working on disconnecting a main that engineers say is no longer useful. “It’s was a very old main, over 100 years old,” Guess said. She said work will resume and will be complete by mid-week. When asked how the incident will affect future projects, Guess said: “I’m sure the supervisors will take a look.” But she stressed: “Our workers are already taking all the precautionary measures that they are supposed to.” Police described one of the measures as a safety trench box to keep the sides of the pit from collapsing.

One worker dead, another hurt in Santa Ynez trench collapse
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA YNEZ – A construction worker was killed and a second seriously hurt Thursday when dirt collapsed in an 11-foot-deep trench they were digging at the Chumash Casino expansion site, authorities said. The 3-foot-wide trench collapsed at 7:47 a.m., burying the two R. Williams Construction Co. workers, said Tracy Gouette, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The names of the victims weren’t immediately released. One worker died in the cave-in and a second man was pulled out and airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment of a possible broken pelvis, Gouette said. The cause of the collapse, which occurred in a trench adjacent to the casino construction, wasn’t immediately known. There will be an investigation by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians is building a $157 million resort next to the tribe’s Chumash Casino. It includes a 190,000-square-foot casino and 106-room hotel and completion is expected next year.

Gas leak forces evacuation at ARES
Farmington schools frequently practice fire drills, but last week students and staff at Akin Road Elementary School found out what it is like to really have to get out of the building fast. Just before 11 a.m. Sept. 12 a construction crew working on townhomes near 197th Street and Goldfinch Ave. broke through a natural gas line. The wind carried gas and fumes north and west, toward the city of Farmington’s new municipal campus and toward ARES. “The way the wind was flowing … Akin Road was right in the way of the wind,” ARES principal Ben Januschka said. “Once the decision was made to evacuate, it was determined that the extreme west end of the property was the best place to go.” According to Januschka, students and staff reacted calmly to his announcement over the intercom. Within about 30 seconds, everybody was out of the building. Half an hour later, the school got clearance to return to work. Januschka sent a letter that night to explain to parents what had happened. “We practice fire drills all the time … (but) it’s difficult to practice for because, in this case, it had to be determined almost in a flash which way to send the kids,” Januschka said. “The staff were extremely professional in handling it.” Farmington police and firefighters also ordered the evacuation of the city’s maintenance building and townhomes on English Avenue.

SAN FRANCISCO; Worker critical after retaining wall fails 
Copyright 2002 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
A 29-year-old man was in critical condition after a construction accident late Monday morning. Julio Magana was working at the base of a retaining wall at a home on El Camino Del Mar in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco at 11:23 a.m. when the cement wall, reinforced with sand, gave way. Magana was trapped between the wall and a nearby foundation with the weight of the sand on top of him, said Pete Howes, San Francisco Fire Department spokesman. It took 20 rescuers and a small bulldozer to free Magana. The effort took about 45 minutes, and officials from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on the scene, Howes said. Magana was admitted to San Francisco General Hospital with chest and abdominal injuries and underwent surgery late Monday afternoon and into the night, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Construction Worker Crushed
By Bobby Cuza, Staff Writer
A man doing construction work on a tony Gramercy Park townhouse was killed Monday after he was crushed by an enormous slab of concrete. The man, whose name was not released, was working in an excavation pit in the backyard of the E. 18th Street building when the soil gave way and the stone toppled onto him. “A big piece of fieldstone, approximately 500 to 1000 pounds, fell on top of the guy, and it crushed him,” said fire department Battalion Chief John Rail. “Whether it was blunt trauma that killed him, or he suffocated, we don’t know.” Emergency personnel responding to the 12:20 p.m. accident had to use heavy machinery to unearth the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. “We had to use some heavy jackhammers, some hydraulic jackhammers as well, to cut the slab apart before we could access him,” said Det. Andrew Nugent of the police department’s emergency services unit. Officials said that damp soil from the recent rains may have contributed to the accident. Two violations were issued by the Buildings Department, which found that a permit to perform interior excavation in the building’s cellar had expired in March 2001. That permit was issued to the firm Steinway Construction in Long Island City. Buildings spokesman Mark Topping said it was unclear whether Steinway was also conducting the more recent backyard work. Neighbors said a group of three men had been working at the four-story, red brick townhouse – located in the Stuyvesant Square historical district – for several months. Rail said the victim was doing waterproofing work at the time of the accident, in a pit about six feet deep near the building’s foundation. An inspector from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration also visited the site Monday. “OSHA is investigating the accident, and it’s way too early to tell anything,” said spokesman John Chavez. “We’re still trying to determine what happened, and who was who on the site.”

UPDATE, Cal-OSHA inspects trench cave-in; Contractor rescued in Napa recovering at home 
By ANDREA A. QUONG, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 
The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday opened a preliminary investigation into the collapse of a 14-foot-deep trench that buried a Napa County contractor up to his neck in earth and rocks for more than four hours. Sam Eakle, 47, a part owner of Eakle Construction and Trucking in Pope Valley, is recovering from the ordeal at home. He was released from Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa on Friday with a broken collarbone and fractured pelvis, family members said. “He’s got a lot of bumps and bruises but is doing well,” said his daughter, Diana Eakle, 19, who was on her way home for the weekend when the accident happened Thursday and later watched her father being extricated. “He just wanted to come home,” she said. A Cal-OSHA inspector visited the site Friday and investigators plan to interview witnesses, an agency spokesman said. Eakle was kneeling in the 3-foot-wide trench, part of an outflow pipe for a vineyard reservoir his company was hired to build, to make a final inspection for the day about 5 p.m. Thursday when the walls imploded, according to his brother and business partner Jim Eakle. “The job was actually done for the day. (He) just wanted to do one more thing, and that’s when it happened,” Jim Eakle said. An employee, Monty De Vita, immediately jumped in and used his hands to clear the dirt around Eakle’s head and shoulders while the owner of the property on Spring Mountain Road four miles west of St. Helena called for help. The other employees had already gone home for the day, Eakle said. About 50 firefighters and rescue workers responded to the call, cutting trees and using plywood to bolster the trench and digging him out by hand. Eakle was freed at 9:40 p.m. and airlifted to the hospital. The Eakles’ 27-year-old company specializes in hauling grapes and building vineyard reservoirs throughout the Napa Valley. The three brothers — Sam and twins Jim and Henry — own the business and employ about a half-dozen workers. Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said investigators will be looking at several issues. He said state health and safety regulations require walls of trenches deeper than five feet to be shored, and contractors digging trenches must obtain a permit from the agency. Investigators also will be checking for any problems with equipment, Fryer said. Eakle was at a loss to explain the accident. “My brother Sam is absolutely, extremely cautious,” he said. “It’s almost ironic that would happen to him.”

Gas leak on McKeen Street forces evacuation 
Elizabeth_Dorsey, TimesRecord
BRUNSWICK – A gas leak from the Maine Natural Gas pipeline along McKeen Street led to the evacuation of several residences and the temporary closure of the street Thursday morning. The leak occurred at 7:49 a.m. at the intersection of Willow Grove Road and McKeen Street. Excavators from the New York-based Suburban Pipe Line, contractors for Maine Natural Gas, were digging with a backhoe as part of a project to extend the existing pipeline to Church Road and to the Industrial Park. According to Gary Kenny, manager of engineering and operation for Maine Natural Gas, the excavators were hand-digging around the existing pipeline and were using a backhoe to remove the fill when they accidentally pierced the pipeline. There was no property damage and there were no injuries. “The dirt and debris (shooting out of the ground) was as high as a telephone pole,” said Cmdr. Richard Desjardins, of the Brunswick Police Department, which responded to the scene along with about 20 firefighters. Residents from several houses were evacuated and police blocked traffic between Church Road and Baribeau Drive. Technicians from Maine Natural Gas responded to the scene within minutes. Excavators working at a nearby site dug a hole 100 feet from the leak and shut off the gas flow. The leak was contained within about 20 minutes, according to a fire department spokesman. The Maine Public Utilities Commission Dig Safe Program requires excavators to dig by hand within 18 inches of the buried pipeline. Once the pipeline is uncovered, mechanical equipment can be used. “They shouldn’t have had that (back hoe) bucket that close to the pipeline. It was clearly a violation,” Kenny said, adding that Maine Natural Gas will file an incident report with the utilities commission. The utilities commission will analyze the incident to determine if a fine is warranted. Representatives from Suburban Pipe Line could not be reached for comment. Despite the size of the leak, risk to nearby residents was minimal. “The potential danger was very low,” Kenny said. Deputy Fire Chief Michael Robitaille said the gas, which is lighter that air, was quickly dispersed by the wind. The risk of an explosion would have been greater if the gas was flowing into a confined area. “We evacuated the immediate area just as a precaution,” he said. Representatives from Maine Natural Gas will meet with town staff and report to the town council about the incident. “We hope lessons will be learned from this,” Kenny said. The company also offered an apology to the neighbors for any inconvenience they suffered during the incident. The company also commended the police and fire departments for their quick response.

UPDATE, Contractor says line was in wrong spot
By Michael Roknick, Herald Business Editor 
The main contractor on the state Route 18 widening project said the gas line a road worker broke Wednesday wasn’t where it was supposed to be. “The 2-inch gas line was off by 2 feet,” said Steve Bucci, superintendent for Lindy Inc. When the road crew began digging at the section near Hermitage Middle School, Bucci said, the National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. gas line was supposed to be 2 feet lower than it was. Like other highway projects, road construction plans for widening Route 18 were given to utility companies with lines in the area so they could move them, Bucci said. “You never know how things like that happen,” Bucci said. “Maybe (plans) for that particular area didn’t get to the person it was supposed to get to.” An NFG spokesperson told the Herald Wednesday that the line was broken when “a contractor” relocating lines hit the main line. 0NFG moved gas lines along the 2.5-mile section of highway last winter in preparation for the road widening, both the utility and Lindy said. NFG, which owns and is responsible for maintaining the line, said it will send an investigator to determine what led to the gas break. “Until he investigates, we won’t know what factors led to the line being hit,” said NFG spokeswoman Sandra James. “If depth (of the line) was an issue, he’ll look into that.” Regardless, an engineer for PennDOT, which is overseeing the project, said this is the last section of the highway that calls for the kind of digging that led to the line break. “By tomorrow we should be done excavating completely on the whole project,” Bill Hanson, a PennDOT civil engineer, said Thursday. “The chances of another line being hit on the Route 18 project after that will be slim to none.” About 1,600 Hermitage School District students from the middle and elementary schools were evacuated for about 30 minutes after the line broke this week. Last week Hermitage students were evacuated for about as long when a similar break occurred. Several other line breaks have accompanied the project, which began in earnest earlier this year.

Gas Main Break Shuts Road Near Lincoln Tunnel; Break Could Cause Traffic Gridlock
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — A construction crew broke through a gas main Thursday, forcing police to shut down train service into Manhattan for four hours and close an exit on a main artery out of the Lincoln Tunnel. The morning accident in front of the Plaza Hotel on Tonnelle Avenue released gas fumes into the air, but no fire or injuries were reported, said Lt. Joseph Bode of the North Bergen Police Department. New Jersey Transit resumed its service into Manhattan around 1 p.m. after determining that gas fumes posed no threat, said Micah Rasmussen, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The southbound exit to Tonnelle Avenue off Route 495, which leads out of the Lincoln Tunnel, remained closed Thursday afternoon, he said. Access to Routes 1 & 9 was also sealed off. The hotel was evacuated and lost gas service, said Joey Anderson, a spokeswoman for Public Service Gas & Electric. Police and fire officials were expected to work with PSE&G into the night to fix the leak, she said. It was not immediately known how many customers would be without gas. “It’s possible that in trying to correct the situation we may have to shut off some customers,” Anderson said. A backhoe operated by Kemsco Construction and Equipment Co. of Newark ruptured the gas line, Rasmussen said. Kemsco was a subcontractor for Anselmi DiCicco, a company hired by the Department of Transportation to perform construction at Routes 1 & 9 and the Amtrak bridge in North Bergen. A message left for Kemsco was not immediately returned Thursday. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Kemsco was cited in 2001 for violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards at an excavation site at Tonnelle Avenue and Union Turnpike in North Bergen. Violations included failing to provide cave-in protection while workers dug a six-foot trench. Kemsco settled the case for $28,600, according to an OSHA Web site.

Man Rescued From Trench In California
In California a Napa County man, who had been buried under a mound of dirt for about four and a half hours while inspecting work on a reservoir at a vineyard, has been rescued. As much as 8 feet of earth fell on Sam Eakle of Pope Valley while he was in a trench up to 14 feet deep. Co-worker Monty De Vita was able to dig the dirt free from Eakle’s face so he could breathe, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Nancy Carniglia. “He basically saved his life,” she said. The earth remained unstable, forcing rescue workers to use plywood and hand tools to slowly remove Eakle to prevent more dirt from collapsing. Eakle was removed about 9:40 p.m. last night and appeared to be uninjured, Carniglia said. He was airlifted to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa where he was in fair condition, she said. “He was alert and conscious and talking to rescuers the whole time,” said CDF Battalion Chief Eric Hoffmann. Eakle owns Eakle Construction, which was digging the trench to install a 12-inch drain from the reservoir at a private vineyard near St. Helena, Carniglia said.

Man Freed After Being Trapped At Construction Site
A construction worker who became trapped in a trench was freed by his co-workers and taken to a hospital Tuesday morning, authorities said. The man, whose identity was not available, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with head injuries. He is expected to survive, an official said. The incident happened around 10:45 a.m. at a home under construction at Mount Comfort Road and 600 North, RTV6 reported. The man was working about 15 feet below ground when a chunk of dirt fell on him, authorities said. Co-workers helped clear the dirt and get the man out.

Gas Leak Forces School Evacuation
Students and teachers at a Houston middle school were evacuated Tuesday after a gas line ruptured behind the campus. The incident happened shortly before noon at a construction site, located in the 10720 block of Southview in southeast Houston. The gas leak was tapped about two hours later. Hovering over the scene, NewsChopper2 showed that the students were being evacuated from Woodson Middle School and taken to nearby St. Agnes Church. Houston Independent School District officials told News2Houston that the students were evacuated from the school as a precaution and taken to the church to have their lunch. Reliant Energy Entex officials said that a construction crew, doing work in the area, hit a 4-inch gas line. A construction worker was injured after being overcome by gas fumes. He was treated at the scene with oxygen, authorities said. The gas leak is under investigation.

Worker Killed In Chalfont Accident
One man is dead, another hospitalized in fair condition after they were overcome by fumes while working inside an excavation pit in New Britain Township, Bucks County. It all started shortly before noon inside a well at 95 Creek Road in Chalfont. Officials say one man in the pit was overcome by fumes from a rubberized sealant. A second employee entered the pit to help and was also overcome by the fumes. Rescue crews were called and pulled the men out in 30-minutes. The victims were taken to Doylestown Hospital. One man was pronounced dead on arrival, the apparent victim of a heart attack. The second worker is in fair conditon. Hospital officials say two firefighters required decontamination, but they were not hurt.

Construction cause of power outage
By Anne Aurand, The Bulletin 
Construction workers in west Bend struck a power line Friday morning, killing power to 1,271 Pacific Power customers for a couple of hours. Electricity halted about 10 a.m. because of underground contact with a line at a construction site near the Old Mill District, said Pacific Power spokeswoman Shannon Shoul. Service was restored to everyone shortly after noon. The outage crippled traffic lights at Colorado Avenue and Wall Street and Colorado and Industrial Way, said Darcy Justice, office specialist at the Bend Public Works Department. The department lost its phone service for a couple of hours during the outage, too, she said. Bend police used radios to contact Public Works officials so they could get someone to temporarily man the uncontrolled intersections. Justice said she thought the areas affected were mostly south of Colorado, but the Fire Department near Simpson Avenue and Century Drive and homes near 14th Street and Newport Avenue also were affected. Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) felt the outage too. Connie Gibson said employees kept working, doing what they could, at the Bend DMV office. The office has electronic driver tests so employees weren’t able to issue licenses. Derik Burkland, at Waddell and Reed Inc., a financial planning company on Emkay Drive, said the office lost power for about two hours. “A short power outage isn’t too bad, but if someone wanted to effect a trade we can’t do it,” he said. However, Fridays are generally slower so the company didn’t lose any business, he said.

Construction worker rescued from cave-in 
By GREG KAYLOR Banner Staff Writer 
Rescue officials raced to the scene of a man trapped 35 feet below the surface of South Lee Highway Thursday afternoon, pulled him free and may have saved his life. John Marshall, 23, is listed in fair condition today at an area hospital. He was trapped under the roadway, approximately 40 feet inside a tunnel that he and his co-workers were digging and shoring up as they went. The men were working under contract for a Cleveland Utilities project. According to Anthony Mullinax, a co-worker of Marshall, “the rocks came in on him and hit his back and legs, he said his hands were tingling and back was hurting, he told me to call the rescue squad.” The work crew was installing a tunnel liner as they excavated the tunnel. According to Mullinax, there was a two-foot area which had not been lined. Cleveland Police Department officers Steve Ross and Greg Trew were first to arrive on the scene. Ross advised 911 dispatchers that Marshall was conscious and alert. Bradley County Rescue Service Confined Space Team members arrived on scene and began extricating the man from the tunnel. Cleveland Fire Department firemen blocked the roadway while rescue workers crawled through the tunnel. Vibration from traffic was determined to be the cause of the collapse. Charleston Volunteer Fire Department brought a ladder truck to lift the man to freedom. Bradley County Emergency Medical Service paramedics stabilized Marshall and transported him across the road to Scott’s Furniture where Life Force helicopter transferred him to Erlanger Medical Center for treatment. Officials had the roadway shut down for about an hour as emergency crews worked. The area of South Lee Highway is known for sink holes, according to officials. Scott’s Furniture, across the highway from the near-disaster, experienced a gaping sinkhole in its parking lot several years ago. Gravel covering the asphalt driveway at Scott’s is an indicator of how severe the problem is in the area.

Gas leak sparks residential evacuation
Bee Metro Staff
ORANGEVALE — A score of residents were evacuated for more than than two hours Thursday while they waited for a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crew to repair a gas leak at Trajan Drive and Mondon Way. The leak occurred when a private construction crew hit a 1 1/2 -inch gas main in the middle of the street about 3:15 p.m. A PG&E crew shut the gas off at 5:40 p.m. Resident Jerry Katcherside said the neighborhood has had ongoing problems with the construction company, which is working on the storm drains in the neighborhood. “It took 10 minutes for the fire department and the police were there in 20 minutes,” Katcherside said. “But the ones who could fix the problem took about an hour and a half.” The utility crew had to come from a yard on Florin Perkins Road in south Sacramento, said PG&E spokeswoman Jan Taber. “They were fighting rush-hour traffic, and they got there as soon as possible.” 

Residents evacuated after excavator cuts gas line 
By SUE McCLURE, Staff Writer
SPRING HILL — About a dozen people were evacuated from their homes for about an hour yesterday morning as a precautionary measure after a large road excavator ruptured a natural gas line on Old Kedron Road, authorities said. ”They were out of their houses for about an hour,” said Spring Hill Police Chief Reggie Pope, adding that no one was injured in the 8 a.m. accident. Joe George of B&W Excavating told officers he was using the excavator to dig up roadway that is being widened when the machinery accidentally tore a hole in a 4-inch gas line, causing a gas leak, according to a report filed by detective Troy Buckley. Buckley ordered the evacuation of residents from the surrounding area, including those living on Hughes Street, Elm Street, Old Kedron Road and the lower part of McLemore Avenue, Buckley reported. Police and fire personnel then set up a perimeter at Duplex Street, Hughes Street, Old Kedron Road, Kedron Road, Walnut Avenue and McLemore Avenue to prevent people from entering the area, he wrote. Emergency medical services workers from Maury and Williamson counties also responded, Buckley reported. After United Cities Gas Co. workers shut off the gas lines, Buckley waited about 15 minutes for the wind to blow away any remaining gas fumes, then allowed people to return to their homes about 9:10 a.m., he reported. City Administrator Ken York said the situation was handled ”exceptionally well.” ”We have named detective Troy Buckley director of emergency management for the city, and this instance showed that he is taking that new responsibility very seriously.” 

Ruptured pipeline shuts plants 
Porpot Changyawa 
Nine factories in Pathum Thani were forced to shut down for five hours yesterday after waterworks workers broke a gas pipeline along Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok road on Thursday night. Workers from the Provincial Waterworks Authority’s Rangsit branch mistook the gas pipeline near Rangsit’s Klong 5 in Thanyaburi district for a water pipe and attempted to cut it, causing a 3cm fracture. “It was an accident,” said Prasert U-Thong, Rangsit branch manager. “It did not create a big blow-up or anything.” PTT Plc, which runs the pipeline, closed the the valve supplying gas to the factories yesterday morning. Gas supplies resumed at 2pm. The authority was laying a water pipe along the side of the gas pipeline, said Mr Prasert. The work was in its first stage when the accident occurred. A PTT Plc spokesman said the company had not been told about the waterworks. A supervisor would be sent to the site when work resumed.

SCHOOL CLOSED AFTER SITE ACCIDENT 
By Staff Reporter, The Hexham Courant 
Pupils at Prudhoe West First School were given an extra two days off this week when health and safety officials closed the school following an industrial accident. A labourer working on the school’s £1.3 million sports and arts extension accidentally dug into a live power cable. Health and safety officials closed the school, which meant that pupils who were due back on Tuesday were told they could not return to lessons for another two days. Head teacher Alan Keenleyside said he wished to thank all who had helped spread the word as just four pupils turned up on the day. The builder, who was taken to Hexham Hospital and transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, suffered burns to his legs.

Gas leak in northeast Minneapolis forces evacuations
Kavita Kumar, Star Tribune 
A six-block perimeter was blocked off in northeast Minneapolis and 20 homes evacuated for about three hours Wednesday after a construction crew hit a gas main. Fire crews responded to a call of a gas leak at 10:30 a.m. at 3rd St. and 22nd Av. NE. At first, gas from the 6-inch pipe was emitting a strong odor, said Kristi Rollwagen, a Fire Department spokeswoman. But by 11:30 a.m., the gas began to pool underground, causing the asphalt above it to bubble and create a dome about 10 to 12 inches across. The pooling made a fire more likely, Rollwagen said. The gas line is about 40 inches underground. Minnegasco workers spent about two hours cutting and welding the main’s three feeder lines. Emergency workers dug up the street to release the gas. An air-conditioned Metro Transit bus was on hand to accommodate displaced residents. Officials monitored sanitary and storm sewers before allowing residents back into their homes about 1:45 p.m. “With the amount of construction we’ve had lately, this is a daily occurrence, for contractors to be hitting gas mains throughout the state,” Rollwagen said. “It happens quite often . . . but this one was a big one.” 

Gas Leak Prompts Evacuations Near State Fairgrounds
A gas leak at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City on Thursday prompted the evacuation of the far northwest corner of the park. The area being evacuated is closest to Interstate 44 and N.W. 10th Street, Eyewitness News 5 reported. Gordon Cooper was also closed, authorities said. The 4-inch line was ruptured about 11:30 a.m. by construction crews working on a tunnel near the fairgrounds. Repair crews were on the scene. For more information, watch Eyewitness News 5.

Gas line rupture causes Milton evacuation 
By Gazette Staff
MILTON–About 50 people were evacuated from residences on East Madison Avenue on Friday after a natural gas line was ruptured during an excavation of a sewer main. The accident, which happened about 10:38 a.m., also resulted in the avenue and perimeter streets being closed to traffic for two hours while a crew from Alliant Energy repaired the leak, said Steve Wright, deputy fire chief. No one was hurt during the incident, he added. After a Fanning Excavation crew hit the line in front of a home at 260 E. Madison Ave., neighbors who included residents of the Curler Home and children attending the nearby Taylor-Made Child Care center were evacuated to the Northside Intermediate School for safety, Wright said. Alliant Energy shut off power to 1,210 electric customers for less than 3 minutes Friday morning after the rupture. This had to be done due to the escaping gas and potential hazard, said Alliant spokesman Gary Schmitz. Two homes remained without natural gas, Friday afternoon, but were expected to have service restored later in the day. 

Gas line break shuts down 196th Street 
LYNNWOOD — A construction crew working on a project to widen the 196th Street onramp to I-5 Monday broke a natural gas line, prompting authorities to shut down the whole road for three hours until 6 p.m. There were no injuries, but the closure created significant traffic problems, Lynnwood police spokeswoman Trudy Dana said. Lynnwood firefighters closed Highway 524 (196th Street) between 36th Avenue W. and 40th Avenue W. as a precaution, she said. The line break occurred around 2:10 p.m. Initially, only the eastbound lanes and center turn lane were closed, but all lanes were shut down about 3:10 p.m. Puget Sound Energy workers were called out to shut off the gas and repair the line.

Gas Leak Forces Evacuations In Orange County
A gas leak has forced authorities to begin evacuating buildings in Orange County, Fla., Thursday, according to Local 6 News. A construction crew ruptured the line while removing a pole at 8702 Meadowcreek. Orange County fire crews are on the scene. It is not clear how big the leak is or how many people have been evacuated, Local 6 News reported. 

Construction worker dies after being pinned against mausoleum
By RICHARD ESPINOZA, The Kansas City Star
A construction worker died Monday when a cave-in pinned him against the foundation of a Lenexa mausoleum. Mark A. Henry, 48, of Olathe was found after his wife called his employer about 9:15 p.m. Henry had started a 30-minute job at the Resurrection Cemetery at 83rd Street and Quivira Road about 9 a.m. and should have been home long before nightfall, said Henry’s boss, Dan Haake of Haake Foundations. Cement workers had been scheduled to be at the new mausoleum on Monday morning, but their job was postponed because the ground was too muddy for their truck to pull up, Haake said. Henry showed up because someone still had to knock form tabs from the 10- to 12-foot-tall concrete foundation so waterproofers could work. It was the sort of short-notice job that Henry was known for taking at the 12-person Raytown company. “He was the first to volunteer to do anything if you needed extra help,” Haake said. Henry was working alone in a 4-foot-wide trench between the foundation and a 10- to 12-foot-tall earth wall when the ground caved in. Police said he apparently tried to dig himself out but could not free his legs from the knees down. Police said an autopsy Tuesday showed that Henry died from internal injuries suffered when dirt slammed him against the concrete. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began investigating Tuesday morning. Henry was a foreman at Haake Foundations, where he worked for 15 years. He worked with the Boy Scouts, Haake said. “He was a great guy,” Haake said. “We need more people like him around.”

Gas Leak Forces Evacuation Of Some Prairie Village Residents
Residents were evacuated from an apartment complex Tuesday after a construction crew hit a natural gas line. It happened a little before noon at the Corinth Paddock complex at 80th Street and Pawnee. KMBC reported that gas leaked into the storm drains, and three buildings were evacuated as a precaution. Residents were allowed to go home by early afternoon. 

Gas Leak Forces Evacuations In Orlando
A gas leak in Pine Hills Friday forced authorities to evacuate several buildings in the area and close two roads, according to Local 6 News. A construction worker operating a backhoe apparently ruptured a gas main while working in the area. Workers reportedly had trouble capping the gas leak because it was coming out so fast. “It was pretty big,” worker Rick Rivera said. “It is a large gas line. One of the main ones that comes into the area.” Businesses within 500 feet of the leak have been evacuated. Authorities shut down the intersection of Powers and Silver Star. Motorists are urged to avoid the area Friday if possible.

Trench Collapses In Cemetery; Man Dies
Authorities are investigating a trench collapse at a cemetery Monday where a man was found dead. KMBC reported that Mark A. Henry, 48, was working on a mausoleum in the cemetery at 83rd Street and Quivira Road, when a dirt wall collasped, pinning him against the wall of the mausoleum. Crews worked for several hours to free the victim, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said that Henry died from internal injuries. The accident was discovered late Monday night. Police said that Henry had not been seen since 8:30 a.m. Henry worked for Haake Foundation of Raytown.

Gas leak brings chaos to town Aug 21 2002
By Laura Capewell
A major mains gas leak sparked an alert in Rugby today, causing road and rail chaos. The gas leak is believed to have been caused when a digger ruptured the 18 inch mains supply at the Rugby Cement site. It was reported at about 9.15am and dozens of emergency staff were alerted. Two fire crews from Rugby and one from Coleshill were called, along with police and officials from Railtrack. The plant was evacuated and Lawford Road closed either side of the entrance. Trains services between Coventry and Rugby were thrown into chaos. All services were stopped from using the track after the leak. A spokeswoman for Rail-track said: “We have had a complete blockage of the railway between Rugby and Coventry. “It could take several hours to deal with the gas leak.” Trains from Rugby to Nuneaton, which do not use the same stretch of track, were able to carry on running as normal. Silverlink services terminated at Rugby. Virgin trains from London to Wolver-hampton were being diverted via Nuneaton and Stafford. Brian George, spokesman for Warwickshire Fire Service, said: “We were called to a gas main fracture underneath the railway line and set a water curtain up. “This involved spraying a fine mist of water through a plate to disperse the gas to make it safe and reduce the risk of it igniting. “Rugby Cement building has been evacuated as a precautionary measure and Lawford Road has been closed. “We are standing by while Transco and Railtrack deal with the incident.” Environmental scientist Nigel Merrick was working at the top of the tower for Al Control Laboratories. He said he had been able to smell gas first thing this morning but thought that was normal on the site. He was later evacuated.

Man trapped in trench 
A man has been taken to hospital after being trapped in a 3m-deep trench on a south Wales building site. South Wales Fire Service were called to the site on Bridgend Road, Llanharan at around 1030 BST. His condition had to be “stabilised” before the fire service could rescue him. He was taken to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant with a broken leg. 

Trench Collapses On Construction Worker
Dirt walls caved in on a construction worker putting in a sewer line near lower Nemahbin Lake in the town of Summit Thursday afternoon. The collapse pinned the man from the waist down for nearly two hours. “We talked to him throughout the whole thing and he was alert and conscious, talking with the rescuers here, and he seemed in fairly good shape throughout the entire operation,” Waukesha Fire Department Deputy Chief Phillip Buchholtz said. Rescuers had to secure the dirt walls with wood to prevent further collapse. The man was treated and released from Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital.

Severed natural gas line detours traffic in Milford
Helen Bennett Harvey, Milford Bureau Chief August 16, 2002 
MILFORD — Matt Losito said he knew just what to do Thursday morning when he realized that his electrical contracting crew had accidentally severed a natural gas line as they worked along Boston Post Road. “First you run, then you call 911,” said Losito, 28, a supervisor for his family’s company, Losito Electrical Contractors Inc. of Bethel. No one was injured and there was no explosion when the crew hit a utility line that apparently was not properly marked. Traffic was detoured for about 90 minutes Thursday morning as Fire Department crews blocked off a busy section of Boston Post Road, between West River and North streets. Sandy Kovalsky, 59, of Naugatuck, was directing traffic at the road project, and said her first instinct, when she heard the word “gas,” was to pray. “I said ‘Lord God,’ that’s the only thing that can take care of everything,” Kovalsky said. “We all know what can happen with gas.” The report of the gas leak came in just after 8:30 a.m., and a crew of about 15 firefighters and supervisors responded to the project adjacent to 757 Boston Post Road, fire Capt. Richard Mohr said. The area was evacuated and the crews had water lines ready, in case a fire started, he said. “If we have free-flowing gas, it’s like we’ve got a bull running in a China shop,” he said. The Losito crew hit the gas line as they used a backhoe to dig a 4- to 6-inch-wide trench for a pipe that will hold wiring for a traffic signal, Mohr said. “They were digging where they were told to dig, it was an accident, Mohr said. “It was apparently an old line, that someone did not know was there.” Bob Brennan, a spokesman for Southern Connecticut Gas Co., confirmed Thursday that Losito had checked, through the “Call Before You Dig” program and lines along Boston Post Road were marked. He said the company is checking its records to see if there was an old unmarked line there. Mohr said the response to the gas leak was not a reaction to a deadly explosion in West Haven Monday that killed two people and leveled three units at a condominium complex on Terrace Avenue. While the exact cause of the explosion remains under investigation, West Haven fire officials believe natural gas was to blame. “What happened in West Haven brings more awareness to the public … we can see what happens with the power of gas,” he said. “But we would have done the same (level of response) a week ago or a year ago. We treated this no differently.”

Construction error causes power outage in Frisco
Lu Snyder 
FRISCO – The business day started with a power outage for many in Frisco Thursday. A construction crew working on North 7th Avenue cut a cable that serves the town’s downtown area, said cel spokesman Steve Roalstad. The power went out for many businesses and residences at 8:40 a.m. Roalstad said cel crews worked to reroute power to their customers while the service line was repaired. “We try to provide redundancy – that way, if we have an outage, we can send power on a different path,” he said. Power was restored to most customers by 9:25 a.m. and fully restored before 10 a.m. Repairs to the broken cable have been completed, but Roalstad said, “Because there’s still construction in the area, we’ll probably have to go back and finalize repairs in a day or so.”

Injured construction worker is back home in Omaha
BY PLAINSMAN STAFF August 14, 2002 
A Nebraska construction worker injured in Huron last week is doing well and has returned to his job. The employee of Horizontal Boring of Omaha was taken to Huron Regional Medical Center after a boring machine flipped over and pushed him into the mud. The machine then flipped back off of him. Lanny Olson of Huron, the prime contractor on a job to install a water and sewer main in southeast Huron, said Horizontal Boring was a subcontractor. The name of the worker is unknown. The worker was treated and released from the hospital and spent two days in his motel room before driving a truck back to Omaha, Olson said. The Nebraska company had a contract to bore under Highway 37 for installation of the pipes. Let to contract by the city, the project area is between the highway and the former site of the Flanery plant on 21st Street Southeast near the James River. Also under construction in the area of the pipe project is the new First United Methodist Church.

No one injured in City gas leak
ANDREW BLEJWAS, Register Citizen Staff August 15, 2002 
TORRINGTON — A gas main break forced the evacuation of more than a dozen homes in the Oliver Road section of Torrington early Wednesday morning. At 8:05 a.m. firefighters were dispatched to the area of Oliver Street and Amber Street for the natural gas leak that sent rubble shooting into the air. Deputy Fire Chief Jaye Giampaolo said the break was caused when a reclaiming machine working for the Street Department made contact with a one-inch gas pipe pulling it apart from a larger pipe it was attached to. The separation caused the gas to shoot out of the larger pipe at approximately 50 P.S.I. according to Capt. David Rogers of the Torrington Fire Department. Upon arriving at the scene firefighters evacuated several homes in the immediate areas and then evacuated approximately 10 others. Firefighters were followed on scene by Yankee Gas officials who temporarily plugged the leak with a wooden dowel shortly after 9 a.m. While Yankee Gas attempted to repair the leak Rogers said the fire department took measurements of the level of natural gas in the air. Rogers said surveys of houses in the area and a storm drain indicated that there was a one percent level of concentration in the area indicating that there was minimal risk of combustion outside of the immediate area of the leak. In addition, Rogers said one of the advantages of natural gas over propane is that it is lighter than air, causing it to lift and dissipate in the air thus making it less likely to combust during a leak. Workers shut down the main and the meters allowing the gas company to purge the line of gas. At around 1:30 the line was again plugged allowing main and street repairs to begin.

UPDATE, Gas leak ignites 100-foot flames
SARAH J. ALLEN/Messenger Post Staff 
CANANDAIGUA – Another morning of roadwork yesterday on North Street turned into a four-hour battle to contain a fire that started when a construction worker ruptured a gas line. At about 10:15 a.m., a Nory Construction employee operating an excavator in front of Meridian Automotive Systems Inc., struck a 6-inch gas line owned by New York State Electric & Gas Corp., according to Canandaigua City Fire Chief Robert Case. After the man and another employee operating a bulldozer nearby realized the gas line was leaking, they left the equipment where it was and ran from the site, Case said. Seconds later, the escaping gas ignited and caused 100-foot flames to leap into the air. No one was injured. “This is the first time in 15 years I’ve seen (a gas leak) on fire,” said Assistant Canandaigua Fire Chief Tom Schaeffer, who arrived on the scene shortly before 11 a.m. “Usually it’s just air escaping. This shows what can happen each time you break through a (gas) line, though it’s not the norm.” Construction work at the site of the fire – the intersection of North Street and Brickyard Road – is part of a project by Nory to rebuild parts of North Street and other roadways in the city. Vice president of Nory Construction John Sabuncu said he couldn’t comment on the accident, including how the line was damaged. “We’re taking statements and are still trying to determine what happened,” he said. Canandaigua police Inv. Daniel Ball was driving west on North Street yesterday when he heard a loud bang. “I heard it and looked up and saw 100- or 150-foot flames shooting up,” he said. “It was unbelievable. You could see cars leaving the area quickly.” Ball closed North Road to traffic at Main Street and waited for emergency workers to arrive. Flames from the fire, which remained confined to the area of the damaged gas line, were blown south, away from the cars parked in Meridian’s parking lot. Investigators were concerned at one point that the heat from the fire would melt the rubber casing around the electrical wires across the street, but the wires remained intact as the day wore on and the flames continued to flare. NYSEG employees who responded decided to dig down to three gas lines in the immediate area and shut off the flow off gas into the site of the leak. The process took several hours, during which firefighters from Canandaigua and Farmington fire departments sprayed water on the singed construction equipment to protect them from additional damage and to prevent the fire from spreading. Volunteers wiped sweat from their brow and sipped cold bottled water after taking a turn holding the hoses. “It doesn’t look as big as when we first got here,” one fireman said. NYSEG workers reached the third line and closed it at roughly 1:30 p.m. As the flow of gas to the leak diminished, the flames subsided and firefighters doused the area with water for several minutes as plumes of smoke rose from the ground. Firefighters stood by with hoses long after the fire was out in case gas was still leaking. Once investigators determined the line was clear, NYSEG workers fixed the line by replacing the damaged section. “We have not yet calculated the amount of gas that was lost,” said NYSEG spokesman Bob Ferris. “It was a significant amount.” Natural gas service to one NYSEG customer who owns a warehouse near the site of the leak has been temporarily interrupted, Ferris said, though the customer is not utilizing gas at this time and won’t be affected.

Teams free man from trench; Crew supervisor buried in shifting dirt for seven hours 
By JULIET V. CASEY, REVIEW-JOURNAL 
Shortly after area rescue teams freed him from the trench in which he was buried for seven hours in shifting dirt, Steve Martin told his boss he couldn’t believe his luck. “I can’t believe this happened today. I was having a great day,” Martin told his supervisor, Troy Shiozawa, as they rode toward an Air Mercy helicopter in an ambulance Thursday afternoon. Martin, an employee with Western States, had been helping other workers install a light pole just outside a new Henderson development near the intersection of Greenway Road and Paradise Hills Drive. But a nearby water line had burst and flooded the area near where workers had dug a trench and installed framing in which to pour cement. Shiozawa, a Western States assistant controller, said the men had to remove the framing because of the water. As they did so, the ground shifted and “a section of the trench gave way and (Martin) lost his balance and fell in,” Shiozawa said. Martin was stuck in the 10-foot deep hole for seven hours as Henderson, Clark County and Las Vegas fire department technical rescue teams dug around him. They bolstered the sides of the hole with various devices to keep them from collapsing. Rescuers said Martin’s spirits were high throughout the operation, although he complained of leg pain. Clark County firefighter Francisco McGee, who helped secure the harness eventually used to lift Martin from the hole, said the man likely had only minor injuries, including “a big bruise on his left ankle.” “It was difficult getting the strap under his legs with dirt waist-deep, and as big as he was, but we were able to cinch it down so we could pull him out,” McGee said. “When we first got him out, he let out a big sigh of relief that I could hear even above the sound of the big vacuum and the big sigh of relief of everyone outside.” Martin clung tightly to the harness that slowly lifted him out of the dirt. He wore an oxygen mask, pants, socks and one shoe. He was taken to the University Medical Center Trauma Center. The rescue operation required the use of specialized equipment including a giant dirt vacuum, a pulley system and dozens of rescuers who helped hoist Martin out with ropes. Rescuers said they kept Martin hydrated through intravenous fluids and kept him cool by placing wet towels on his head. Henderson Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Lytle described the rescue and Martin’s luck as “extreme.” At one point, rescuers had freed all of Martin’s upper body and part of his legs when a cave-in occurred and the dirt again was tightly packed nearly up to his waist. “This was a very dangerous rescue not just for the man trapped in the hole but for the men working around it, where the ground was extremely unstable,” Lytle said.

Gas line ruptured at site near NCMC
Story By Perry Swanson
A gas line break at North Colorado Medical Center on Friday caused the evacuation of two buildings. No one was hurt, and no patients were affected, said hospital spokesman Gene Haffner. The line was broken during construction activity on the north side of NCMC. Gas was pulled into the hospital’s ventilation system, and many inside the main building at 1801 16th St. smelled the fumes, Haffner said. Staff at the hospital and the Hospitality House were evacuated. The Hospitality House provides lodging for patients and their families. Crews rerouted the gas; service was not disrupted to the hospital. Permanent repairs to the gas line were expected to be complete late Friday afternoon. Firefighters tested air in the hospital and determined that, while there was an odor, there was no danger, Haffner said. The line ruptured where the hospital is adding cooling towers and expanding part of a future emergency room. 

Squirrel Hill Gas Leak Forces Evacuations
A drilling mistake led to evacuations in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill section Thursday morning. Verizon crews were drilling for a new utility pole on Forward Avenue when they struck a gas line. Firefighters were wetting down the area in an attempt to dissipate the fumes. The line belongs to Equitable Gas. Company officials said service to the area was not interrupted.

Gas line ignites in Canandaigua
Democrat and Chronicle 
(August 9, 2002) — A contractor rebuilding North Street in the city of Canandaigua ruptured a gas line that ignited Thursday. Flames shot up more than 60 feet from the road after the gas ignited at 10:36 a.m., said Canandaigua Firefighter Brian Kransler. No one was injured, but an excavator and bulldozer operated by Nory Construction were burned, Kransler said. Firefighters needed to wait for more than two hours before the gas could be shut off and the fire extinguished, he said.

Contractor cuts Suffolk gas line, causing evacuation
By SUSIE STOUGHTON, The Virginian-Pilot
SUFFOLK — A utility contractor cut a natural gas line behind a shopping center on North Main Street Thursday morning, causing evacuation of several businesses and the nearby Suffolk Health Department. No one was injured. The incident tied up traffic along Main Street, where ongoing construction of a center-turn lane has caused frequent backups. Employees of Lucas Underground Utilities of Chesapeake cut the 2-inch gas line behind Subway in the Suffolk Shopping Center about 10 a.m., said Suffolk Fire and Rescue Capt. James T. Judkins Jr. They were repairing a damaged telephone cable when they sliced the gas line, which had not been marked, he said. Natural gas was spewing from the ground when firefighters arrived, he said. Virginia Natural Gas employees repaired the leak, Judkins said, and employees and customers were allowed back in the buildings about 10:30 a.m.

Natural gas line break empties Michigan City day-care center 
By Stan Maddux / Post-Tribune correspondent 
MICHIGAN CITY — Sixty children were evacuated from a Michigan City day-care center Wednesday as natural gas roared through a ruptured line next to the building. The children at Imagination Station Child Development Center, including four infants, were loaded into ambulances and transported to the playground at nearby Joy Elementary School for safe keeping at about 4 p.m. It took NIPSCO about two hours to cap the leak, police said. Being whisked away in an ambulance to another location was exciting to some of the children, but others were “scared, very scared,’’ said Joanie Elliott-Stepp, lead teacher at the day-care center. A backhoe used by the Michigan City Water Department crew to expose a broken underground water pipe came into contact with the high-pressure gas line, said Michigan City Police Chief Gene Simmons. The sound of the gas escaping was compared by police to Niagara Falls and was louder than most officers said they ever heard. “I would categorize it as significant,’’ Simmons said. No other buildings or homes in the densely populated stretch of Coolspring Avenue were evacuated, Simmons said. Traffic was kept off Coolspring Avenue from Woodland Avenue to Jackson Street as a precaution. An odor of natural gas was evident, particularly when the wind blew a certain direction. “If you go to the other side I’m sure you’ll get a nice, strong smell,’’ said Simmons. Operators of the day-care center used cell phones outside the elementary school to inform parents about the leak and where to pick up their children. They were also busy “keeping kids calm, comfortable and not alarmed,’’ said Janice Katz, president of the Imagination Station Child Development Center Board. At first, Joan Anderson of Michigan City was concerned while on her way to pick-up her 2-year old grandson, Jacob. She complimented staff for their handling of the emergency as children sampled the playground equipment. “I’m glad for the way things turned out. I didn’t know if there would be complete chaos. They’re happy. It’s a playground,’’ she said. No injuries were reported. 

Plumbers may have cut flow to phones 
Yomiuri Shimbun 
About 6,000 telephone lines operated by NTT West Corp. were suspended Thursday in Kita Ward and part of Fukushima Ward, Osaka, due to damage to buried cables in Fukushima Ward. Signs of trouble first registered on the firm’s central communications server at 1:15 a.m. on Thursday. Five cables in the area were later found cut. Plumbers with the Osaka Municipal Waterworks Bureau had been working in the area until about 1 a.m. replacing old pipes. It is believed a worker accidentally damaged the cables when he put an iron plate in the ground. Five NTT West public telephones stand at an intersection near the construction site. The firm’s Osaka branch office reportedly had received 684 complaints and inquiries as of noon.

One dead after Kaufman trench collapse 
From staff reports 
A Terrell man died Tuesday afternoon after a trench in which he was working collapsed. For several hours, Dallas Fire Rescue personnel worked along with other helpers to free Weniford Gene Thornton, 59, who had been working on sewer lines on Ann Street in a Kaufman County residential neighborhood. Thornton was trapped in four feet of dirt for more than 30 minutes. Thornton, an eight-year City of Kaufman employee, was with another city worker who was not in the trench when the cave-in occurred. “This is a tragedy, as you can expect, for our community,” Kaufman Mayor Dennis Berry said. “We pray for the family and relatives, and thank God that rescuers were not injured in the rescue attempt.” A fire official at the scene questioned why the worksite was not shored with protective walls. OSHA is investigating the accident.

Gas Leak In SE Lubbock Causes Concern 
Natural gas erupts into a southeast Lubbock neighborhood after a city worker busts a pipe with a road grader. The leak forced Energas officials to evacuate the area by 66th Street and MLK Monday morning for about two hours. The ten inch distribution line contained a hundred pounds of pressure and was eventually turned off. It took special welders almost four hours to repair the two miles of pipe. A radio announcer who was on the air when the gas line busted got quite a scare. “It was scary,” says Holly Houston, of KRFE-AM. “I didn’t know if it was going to explode because it was super loud. We didn’t know what was going on.” Energas was quick to respond to a gas line rupture that started at 9:30am Monday. They evacuated the area and it took them two hours to turn off the gas and secure the area. KRFE-AM had to switch over to satellite and cancel some of their shows. “Anytime that you have gas releasing into the atmosphere, there’s a number of things that can happen,” says Clay Cash, of Energas. “That’s why we try to make the area as safe as we possibly can.” Energas officials say gas leaks are more common in the summertime because of more construction work during the summer months.

Workers break gas line 
By JUSTIN POST Tribune Chronicle 
WARREN – Three houses were evacuated Thursday morning after a construction crew broke a natural gas line at Tod Avenue and Fifth Street S.W. Perk Construction of Bedford was replacing sidewalks on Tod Avenue when machinery sliced into the two-inch plastic line buried several feet underground, said Neil Durbin, Dominion East Ohio Gas spokesman. Gas hissed from the line for more than a half hour before East Ohio Gas workers shut off the line. The Warren Fire Department was first on the scene and began evacuating homes and blocking off streets. ”The smell was horrible,” said Carol McKinney, who was evacuated from her home at 1453 Tod Ave. S.W. ”It was overwhelming.” Her husband, Warren, said the smell gave him a headache and made his stomach queasy. He was just leaving the house for fresh air when firefighters told him to evacuate. Willie T. Moore, 67, 900 Fifth St., strapped on a respirator to block the smell. ”I have lung problems and keep masks around the house,” he said. ”My mailman let me know where the smell was coming from and used my phone to call the police.” Durbin said the line supplies natural gas to approximately 17 apartment complexes on Fifth Street. Service to those homes was shut off for more than an hour while workers patched the line. McKinney said she did not want the repair bill to fall on local residents. East Ohio Gas is investigating whether Perk Construction or a contractor hired to mark the gas line was at fault. If so, they would be responsible for picking up the tab, Durbin said. ”This is something we are going to have to look into,” he said. ”But the customer would not be asked to pay for this.”