Just a small spark could have turned Friday afternoon’s propane pipeline leak in Broome Center into a tragedy, according to Stone Store Road resident Leonard Moxon Jr.
A woman came “zipping around a corner with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth” and told Mr. Moxon of the fog in the road around 4:25pm Friday.
The fog that was freezing on her windshield was propane gas leaking from an eight-inch, 47-year-old pipe buried about three feet the ground.
“If she had a faulty muffler we would have had Blenheim ’90 all over again,” Mr. Moxon said referring to the March 13, 1990 gas explosion that killed two people and leveled numerous buildings in Blenheim. “I would have gotten blown out of my house…
“The only thing I was thinking was, ‘Bam.’ I’m at ground zero,” he said.
“This is precisely what happened in Blenheim 20 years ago,” added Rebecca LittleJohn, a Blenheim resident.
Though the details are still sketchy on what caused Friday afternoon’s propane pipeline leak that forced almost 25 people from their homes in Broome Center, one thing is certain: residents are not happy with the owners of the pipeline and how they handled the aftermath of the leak.
The pipeline is owned by Enterprise TE Products Pipeline which earlier this year purchased the company that owned the line that exploded in Blenheim.
About 20 residents, many of those displaced by the leak, from Broome Center and Blenheim, attended a briefing at the Middleburgh firehouse Saturday evening and another 15 attended a follow-up meeting at the station Sunday.
The initial 911 call that came into Schoharie County dispatchers reported an explosion and fire at about 4:26pm near the intersection of Keyserkill and Stone Store roads near the Broome-Gilboa town line.
That report turned out to be incorrect, but emergency personnel from several departments responded to the scene, many not knowing the severity of the situation said, Leonard Moxon III, a first responder in the Town of Broome.
“It’s bad when civilians know more than the fire department,” Mr. Moxon said.
“You guys really got this screwed up. Nobody knew anything…
“It’s lucky it happened when it did and not at 12 o’clock at night or this would have been really bad,” he said.
On Sunday, he added, “everybody was flying by the seat of their pants. No one knew what was going on.”
Mr. Moxon and his father were among the 13 to 15 families evacuated from their homes. All but four or five families were able to return by Sunday night.
In all, more than 116 people were notified of the situation by the county Emergency Management Office.
Those at the two update meetings praised the work of the Sheriff’s office, State Police and other county agencies but little praise for the pipeline owners. A spokesman for the company said seven or eight officials left Houston Friday night to help assess the situation.
Leonard Moxon Jr. tried to get information from pipeline personnel Saturday night.
“We need communication,” he said. “It wasn’t fog. You can’t smell it. We don’t want any doubletalk. This is very, very bad.”
He said crews have been working next to the leak site for about two weeks.
“We want to know what was going on up there,” said Mr. Moxon Jr., 74, who said he had to spend Friday night in his Jeep.
Rick Rainey, public information officer for Enterprise Products, said a routine internal inspection of the pipeline had been done prior to the leak and a crew was sent out to check on a potential problem.
There was some heavy equipment near the scene the days leading up to the leak, Mr. Rainey said.
On Sunday, he said it has not been determined whether the digging caused the leak.
Gail Shaffer of Blenheim noted that work with heavy equipment was going on before the deadly explosion in Blenheim in 1990.
Emergency people should be contacted when that sort of work is to be done, she said Sunday.
Backhoe work around gas pipelines seem “to be a recipe for disaster,” she said.
More regulation is needed, said Congressman Paul Tonko who attended Sunday’s update and was at the scene after the Blenheim explosion in 1990.
“I wonder about the chain of command…
“I know people don’t like regulations, it’s a dirty word but regulation is an important aspect.”
There have been 255 incidents last year involving pipelines and there are 94 inspectors, Congressman Tonko said.
“There’s room for strengthening the oversight.”
More money should be spent on communicating with the public and local officials, several residents said.
“Nobody died this time,” said resident Ellen Bird, “let’s figure it out for the next time.”