getting the gas turned off after an explosion/fire, etc. in Calif.

[ensho]

http://www.mercurynews.com/cupertino/ci_18856449?source=rss


Gas pipe leak fuels explosion that destroys cupertino townhouse


-snip-

PG&E responded within 11 minutes, and Pearson praised their effort and response. PG&E workers had to dig three holes that were 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep underneath the asphalt street in front of the townhouse. Workers took about 90 minutes to get into the ground and shut off the gas while firefighters kept the blaze in check.

-snip-

Despite Pearson's praise, councilman Orrin Mahoney was surprised that turning off the gas required such a lengthy excavation.

"It sounds like it needs some review if that's the current process for shutting off the gas," he said.

The culprit in the leak could have been a T-shaped plastic pipe, a style that was manufactured and predominately used in the late 1960s until about 1973 and is susceptible to slow crack growth, said Jodie Kubota, PG&E's director of gas operations. The Aldyl-A style pipe is known to lose its strength over time.

-snip of finding 6 more leaks and fixing them. locals are nervous-
-------------------

shouldn't there be a shutoff valve(s) somewhere?

[zalinda]

1. You would think. n/t

[uncle ray]

2. the one at the home/meter probaby got damaged in the fire.

so they went looking for the valve under the street, a better option than shutting off gas to the whole neighborhood, which has additional problems. it is actually safer to let it burn until they get to the valve closest to the fire than to shut down a whole neighborhood.