Updates and protocols

After several requests to appear from the Saratoga Town Council, representatives from Black Hills Energy were in attendance at the Nov. 19 meeting of the governing body. The appearance from the utility company comes as they are installing new gas lines throughout Saratoga and gas leaks have been reported over the last few months.

Project Update

Damien Parks, planner for Black Hills Energy, presented an update to the council on the project, which has been underway throughout the summer. According to Parks, there were a few remaining services left and following that, they would perform a walkdown of the current project area. 

He added that, next year, Black Hills Energy would be moving meters from their current location and follow through with official abandonment of the old gas mains and service lines.

Following his update, Saratoga resident Patty Bartlett informed the Black Hills Energy representatives that she had recently reported a gas leak at her home. Bartlett added that she ran a daycare out of her home and she was concerned about the safety of the children she watched.

Leak Protocol

“I have a gas leak and I have a daycare and the gentleman that came, and it’s been six weeks ago, told me that it wasn’t that bad,” said Bartlett.

Bartlett informed the representatives that she had lived in her home for 27 years and that, this summer, a chokecherry tree on her property did not bear fruit. She added that she didn’t think anything about it, until another person who helped with her daycare told her she could smell gas.

“The young man that came … told me that you guys have up to six months to fix that,” Bartlett said.

Gary Hogan, area gas operations manager, used Bartlett’s concerns to begin discussing Black Hills Energy’s approach to reported gas leaks, stating that the company had a process of classifying different leaks.

“If it’s within a certain footage of the property, we classify that based on conditions for frost and things. We’ll decrease the migration,” said Hogan. “If it’s classified as a two, that means we have six months, basically, to get it repaired but it’s continually monitored and then, if it’s going to be beyond that, they’ll come back out and reclassify it and make sure you’re still going to be okay to be in the structure with the severity of the leak that’s there now.”

Mayor John Zeiger asked Hogan if, considering Bartlett’s home served as a daycare, Black Hills Energy would make her reported leak more of a priority. Hogan replied that the utility company would look into it and contact Bartlett.

As the discussion continued, Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) Chief Pat Vining informed the council the approach the SVFD would be taking in future reported gas leaks. Recently, one leak led to the evacuation of residents around Mom’s Kitchen for several hours as first responders waited for the leak to be repaired. Another leak, reported at Saratoga Elementary School, led to the evacuation of the school to the Platte Valley Community Center until the leak was located and repaired.

“We’ve had a lot of discussion amongst ourselves and with other jurisdictions. We’ve come to the conclusion in talking with our emergency manager and the officers throughout this county and our own officers; fire department’s stand will be any gas leak we will evacuate all residents that are in danger to a safe location,” said Vining. “We will then monitor the area.”

Vining added that, unless the SVFD activates the regional response team—a team of hazmat technicians and other responders—the fire department would not actively mitigate gas leaks. Instead, Vining said, the fire department would take on a support role as Black Hills Energy responded to the leaks.

Life First, Property Second

“The directive of all of our employees and our primary responsibility is to protect life first and then property second. The industry standards have changed dramatically,” said Hogan. “I’m 38 years professional gas man, I take a tremendous amount of pride in that. It used to be nothing just to hop down in a hole, grab it and lasso it. To get the gas to stop was the primary focus. What we found was that its inherently hazardous and can create a whole different set of problems. You can take it from a blowing gas situation into a rescue operation or, worse, a recovery operation.”

Hogan went on to explain possible hazards present in the case of gas leaks. He pointed out that a gas leak at a certain pressure combined with polyethylene pipes could potentially lead to static electricity.

“If you don’t take steps to mitigate that and you just begin to pinch it off or squeeze it off, there’s a potential that you could arc a discharge and actually have an ignition on that pipe,” Hogan said. “Being as the industry has moved this way, it is much safer to protect life, evacuate and monitor the situation rather than to hop in with your one and only person that’s capable of taking care of it and then having them have an issue with suffocation or an ignition.”

Hogan informed the council that, by Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) standards, Black Hills Energy was required to be able to have a one hour response time to possible gas leaks.

“Our goal is much lower than that. We want to be much, much quicker about getting there. Then it’s just a matter of coordinating fire and police, making sure that we have roads blocked off if necessary and evacuating homes,” said Hogan. “Our employees are well trained in emergency response and evacuation, as well as monitoring and what the parameters are for certain types of actions. I applaud the fire department for taking the stance of more of a support role.”

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2 at Saratoga Town Hall.