PIPELINE RUPTURE: A CASE STUDY

BY ERIC G. BACHMAN

On Friday, November 3, 2000, at 0900, the Lancaster County-wide Communications Center received a call from an excavator reporting he punctured an underground fuel pipeline and that product was leaking from it. When units from the Fire Department Mount Joy (FDMJ) arrived, they found a 40-foot geyser of diesel fuel oil spraying the countryside, saturating the ground and meandering toward a tributary of Back Run. The incident quickly turned into a large multiagency response that included hazardous-materials teams from three counties, state and federal environmental agencies, local municipal officials, and pipeline and cleanup officials. Firefighters' and municipal road crews' prompt action prevented the incident from becoming a large environmental disaster. Although the incident had a favorable outcome, there were many lessons learned applicable to haz-mat and fire incidents.

The incident occurred at the rear of a dairy farm at 1214 Strickler Road, located in rural Rapho Township in Lancaster County approximately three miles north of the borough of Mount Joy. The area is primarily farmland with varied terrain and dense tree lines. The eight-inch pipeline, operated by the ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, at the time carried diesel fuel oil at a pressure of more than 700 psi. The pipeline crossed the south side of the farm and ran under the mounded topography. The pipeline was struck at a low point in the valley, which contributed to a prolonged flow of material. ExxonMobil personnel shut down the line from a valve several miles west of the site. The residual diesel oil flowed south to the low point of the valley where the pipeline was breached. The geyser flowed for nearly 21/2 hours before subsiding, ultimately contaminating the countryside with more than 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel oil. Fortunately, natural and artificial conduits significantly contributed to the responders' efforts to contain the diesel.