Signs of pipeline problems

One of the themes of the recent pipeline safety meeting in Jasper was "be a good neighbor," and that includes recognizing, reporting and reacting to potential problems.

Signs of a problem on a natural gas pipeline include pools of liquid, blowing dirt, hissing sounds, vapor clouds, gaseous odors, bubbles in standing water, dead vegetation and frozen soil or ice next to a pipeline.

These should be treated as an emergency, according to the Pipeline Association for Public Awareness. They recommend you leave the area immediately, abandon equipment, and call 911 and the pipeline company. The pipeline phone number is on yellow warning markers.

Keep others away until emergency officials arrive. Stay upwind and do not attempt to operate pipeline valves or extinguish pipeline fires.

The El Paso Pipeline Group advises, "Let escaping gas burn. Do not attempt to extinguish a natural gas fire... (that could) result in a secondary explosion."

The Angelina River Volunteer Fire Department trains regularly at the Tennessee Gas Pipeline facility on U.S. Highway 63.

"We get people call us all alarmed because they've seen the fire trucks here," technician Charlie Street said, "but it's routine training exercises, and we try to do it for all the firefighters fairly often."

Other resources for learning more about pipeline safety is a new website, www.IDigSafe.com. It offers courses for excavating safely and preventing accidents, more than 200 courses for contractors and utility workers.