BY FRANK C. MONTAGNA
We are not experts on all things, but we can and do respond to incidents that require expert advice for safe mitigation. Natural gas incidents fall into this category. Called to a ruptured gas main in the street, we might see gas blowing out of an excavation. We have neither the expertise nor the equipment to determine if it is also leaking elsewhere underground or if it is migrating toward surrounding buildings. At a downed wires incident, unless the wires are arcing, we do not know if they are live. At a smoking manhole incident, we are not able to tell if other manholes will become involved or if the smoking manhole will blow its 300-pound metal cover several stories into the air. When a high-pressure steam main ruptures, we do not know what other damage has been done to the buried gas and electric lines and to other underground infrastructure in the area. So, what are we to do and how do we operate safely and effectively at these incidents?
Even though we are not the subject matter experts on these types of incidents, we still must respond to them. We still must make decisions that may put our people at risk and that will have an impact on the safety of civilians. We still must operate at them, so what do we do to operate both safer and smarter?
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