Surging natural gas leak from line rupture forced evacuation of 20 Upper St. Clair homes

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? WELL, EARLY THIS MORNING, A WATER CREW WAS WORKING TO REPAIR A LINE HERE. BUT WHAT THEY HIT, THEY SAY, WAS AN UNMARKED NATURAL GAS LINE. THE WORD TO EVACUATE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD CAME QUICKLY. SOUTH SIDE SLOPES. I SAID NO. THAT’S THE SURGING SOUND FROM THE RUPTURED GAS LINE CAPTURED ON VIDEO BY EVACUEES HERE ON PINE VIEW DRIVE IN UPPER SAINT CLAIR. INSIDE THE HOUSE, I COULD HEAR LIKE A WOOSHING KIND OF SOUND. AND SO I CAME DOWN AND I CAME OUTSIDE JUST AS I CAME OUTSIDE, THE FIRE TRUCK WAS PULLING UP. SKY 4 SHOWS HOW FIRST RESPONDERS AND UTILITY CREWS RUSHED IN AS THE EVACUEES HAYS WERE RUSHED OUT ALMOST AS LIKE A WATER GUSHER, BUT NOT WATER. IT WAS GAS, LIKE SHE SAID. A SIZZLING SOUND, SORT OF LIKE JUST LIKE A GEYSER, BUT OF GAS. POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS WERE POUNDING ON DOORS, TELLING PEOPLE TO LEAVE. THEY GATHERED OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE TO ANOTHER NEARBY UPPER SAINT CLAIR COMMUNITY WITH PARAMEDICS ON STANDBY. THEIR URGENCY WAS WITH THE GAS LEAK. THEY WANTED EVERYONE TO EVACUATE FROM THE AREA UNTIL THEY COULD GET THE GAS SHUT OFF AND DETERMINE WHERE IT WAS COMING FROM AND HOW TO STOP IT. SOME PEOPLE ASKED TO GO BACK INSIDE TO CLAIM BELONGINGS OR TO TAKE THEIR CAR TO LEAVE. FIREFIGHTERS TOLD THEM NO, THEIR CAR IGNITION COULD TRIGGER AN EXPLOSION. YOU CAN’T EVEN TAKE THE CAR. YOU HAVE TO WALK OUT BECAUSE IT COULD SPARK THE CAR, COULD SPARK A FIRE ON THE GAS LEAK. BUT HE’S LIKE, NO, YOU CAN’T GO ANYWHERE. IF YOU DRIVE UP. WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD WILL EXPLODE BECAUSE THE GAS LINE, IT WAS AFTERNOON WHEN POLICE SAY CREWS CLAMPED OFF THE GAS LEAK AND DID REPAIRS. THE CREWS WENT DOOR TO DOOR TO CHECK THE SAFETY INSIDE THE HOMES BEFORE RESIDENTS WERE ALLOWED BACK IN. AS FOR ANY INVESTIGATE OF WHAT WENT WRONG HERE, UPPER SAINT CLAIR POLICE SAY THAT’S IN THE HANDS OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSI

A water company crew working on Upper St. Clair's Pineview Drive ruptured a high-pressure natural gas line, forcing the evacuation of 20 condominium homes on the street Wednesday morning. Penn American Water says it was an unmarked Peoples Natural Gas line. The word to evacuate came quickly, with emergency responders pounding on doors on Pineview Drive, warning residents to leave on foot.Some wanted to leave by car. But firefighters told them no, your car ignition could ignite the natural gas."He's like you can't go anywhere (with your car), If you drive, the whole neighborhood will explode because of the gas line," evacuee James Heinrich told Pittsburgh's Action News 4."We wanted to go back and pick up some stuff. They told us you can't go back. And you can't even take the car, you have to walk because it could spark — the car could spark a fire from the gas leak," said evacuee Mehrouz Emamzadeh.The surging sound of the ruptured gas line was captured on video by evacuees who shared their recordings with Pittsburgh's Action News 4."You could hear like this sizzling kind of sound and steam and it was just straight gas like a geyser. You could very visibly see it coming out of the ground," said Zoe Wiener, who, along with her mother Suzanne and sister Eden, evacuated from their home. "You couldn't smell any gas, but it looked like something had broken and was shooting it into the air.""Inside the house, I could hear like a whooshing kind of sound. So I came down and I came outside. Just as I came outside, the fire truck was pulling up," said Suzanne Wiener. "I looked and I could see basically a geyser coming out of the ground. I asked the water company, he said no, the water's been off, that's gas. And then the fire department started telling everybody — I heard them say we're going to start going door to door. And then he said everybody needed to evacuate.""Almost as like a water gusher, but not water, it was gas. Like she said, a sizzling sound. Sort of like a geyser, but gas," said Eden Wiener."Their urgency was with the gas, like they wanted everybody to evacuate from the area until they could get the gas shut off and determine where it was coming from and how to stop it," said Zoe Wiener. "It's not every day that there's gas spewing out onto our street. So I'm concerned for our neighbors who live right in that house."As evacuees waited on a lawn by the entrance to a neighboring community, paramedics were on standby in case they were needed. There were no injuries.A PRT bus was brought in to offer evacuees air-conditioned shelter if they wanted it.It was after noon when Upper St. Clair police said crews had clamped off the gas leak. Those crews did repairs and went door to door to check the safety inside the homes before residents were allowed back in. As for any investigation of what went wrong, police said that would be in the hands of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

UPPER SAINT CLAIR, Pa. —

A water company crew working on Upper St. Clair's Pineview Drive ruptured a high-pressure natural gas line, forcing the evacuation of 20 condominium homes on the street Wednesday morning.

Penn American Water says it was an unmarked Peoples Natural Gas line.

The word to evacuate came quickly, with emergency responders pounding on doors on Pineview Drive, warning residents to leave on foot.

Some wanted to leave by car. But firefighters told them no, your car ignition could ignite the natural gas.

"He's like you can't go anywhere (with your car), If you drive, the whole neighborhood will explode because of the gas line," evacuee James Heinrich told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

"We wanted to go back and pick up some stuff. They told us you can't go back. And you can't even take the car, you have to walk because it could spark — the car could spark a fire from the gas leak," said evacuee Mehrouz Emamzadeh.

The surging sound of the ruptured gas line was captured on video by evacuees who shared their recordings with Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

"You could hear like this sizzling kind of sound and steam and it was just straight gas like a geyser. You could very visibly see it coming out of the ground," said Zoe Wiener, who, along with her mother Suzanne and sister Eden, evacuated from their home. "You couldn't smell any gas, but it looked like something had broken and was shooting it into the air."

"Inside the house, I could hear like a whooshing kind of sound. So I came down and I came outside. Just as I came outside, the fire truck was pulling up," said Suzanne Wiener. "I looked and I could see basically a geyser coming out of the ground. I asked the water company, he said no, the water's been off, that's gas. And then the fire department started telling everybody — I heard them say we're going to start going door to door. And then he said everybody needed to evacuate."

"Almost as like a water gusher, but not water, it was gas. Like she said, a sizzling sound. Sort of like a geyser, but gas," said Eden Wiener.

"Their urgency was with the gas, like they wanted everybody to evacuate from the area until they could get the gas shut off and determine where it was coming from and how to stop it," said Zoe Wiener. "It's not every day that there's gas spewing out onto our street. So I'm concerned for our neighbors who live right in that house."

As evacuees waited on a lawn by the entrance to a neighboring community, paramedics were on standby in case they were needed. There were no injuries.

A PRT bus was brought in to offer evacuees air-conditioned shelter if they wanted it.

It was after noon when Upper St. Clair police said crews had clamped off the gas leak. Those crews did repairs and went door to door to check the safety inside the homes before residents were allowed back in.

As for any investigation of what went wrong, police said that would be in the hands of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Surging natural gas leak from line rupture forced evacuation of 20 Upper St. Clair homes

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