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<\/a>Four Hours Before Explosion
(Photo: Anne Sentz)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Anne and Benjamin Sentz were working from home and watching workers dig a trench for a new pipeline that was running by an old pipeline that had gas in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy husband and I were working from home today,\u201d Anne Sentz told Morgan County USA. <\/em>\u201cWe were standing in our kitchen looking out our window watching them dig. We kept an eye on the people doing the work ever since they started. We happened to be watching them dig. They were digging really deep. We heard a bang like they hit metal. All of a sudden there was a loud explosion. Pressurized gas shot up 80 to 100 feet into the air. Six or seven workers just scattered.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy husband grabbed me and said \u2013 we need to get out of here. I grabbed one dog and he grabbed the other. We just ran to our car. While we were on our way to our car, a worker came to the front of our house and said we needed to go. We just left. I left the door open. We were out of there in 30 seconds. We just drove away. We didn\u2019t know if our house was going to explode or what. We kept on driving. I drove all the way to Shepherdstown.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI called 911. They had already received a call about the incident. They put me through to the fire department. I talked to someone from the fire department. They told me they would give me a call when it was safe to come back to the house. It\u2019s 5:30 and we are still not back. We haven\u2019t received the call yet that it is all clear.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey had to evacuate in a 330 foot radius we were told. Our neighbors to the right of us were evacuated. Maybe the person across the road was evacuated. I\u2019m not exactly sure how many people were evacuated. Maybe three homes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anne Sentz said that Mountaineer Gas has an easement through their property that is decades old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt predates our ownership of the property. It predates the house being built. We didn\u2019t grant them the easement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere had been an old pipeline that runs through our yard. We are not even a natural gas customer. It just happens to run through our property. It was being used by Mountaineer Gas to deliver gas to other customers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were told by Mountaineer Gas months ago that they were upgrading this old line for safety reasons to put in this larger pipeline. They have been digging all day. It\u2019s my understanding that they are not removing the old pipeline while they are putting the new one in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen you have two pipelines running side by side \u2013 an old and a new one. And when they were digging the trench to put the new pipeline in, they hit the old pipeline and that appeared to cause the explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do not believe anyone was hurt. But we left within 30 seconds of it happening. I don\u2019t know. It seems to me from my observation that everyone standing around the site got up and ran away. There was no fire. We haven\u2019t been allowed back onto our property to see if there was property damage. I just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve been watching this operation for a while,\u201d Sentz said. \u201cI am trying to figure out what is going on. The gas company hasn\u2019t been as transparent as they should be to the property owners and neighbors and people affected by this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was just at the site at 5 p.m. and could still smell the gas,\u201d said Tracy Cannon. \u201cI’ve been watching the pipeline construction in the Eastern Panhandle closely for two years now. I’ve often been concerned about what I saw. Mountaineer Gas Company has been installing new pipeline on Salvation Road without removing the old pipeline first. I was worried that something could go wrong, but I’m still shocked that this happened. Thankfully no one was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This incident is an example of the careless manner in which Mountaineer Gas is installing the gas pipeline to Rockwool,\u201d said Christine Wimer, President of Jefferson County Foundation. \u201cWe have again and again tried to get Mountaineer Gas to have the pipeline appropriately permitted, but they have refused to do so. The regulators are all too happy to oblige Mountaineer Gas\u2019s obfuscation of the regulatory requirements. The regulators have abandoned their post of protecting the public. This cannot be tolerated.\u201d A Mountaineer Gas pipeline in Martinsburg, West Virginia exploded this afternoon at about 3:15 p.m. on the Sentz family property on Salvation Road. Anne and Benjamin Sentz were working from home and watching workers dig a trench for a new … Continue reading <\/a>
near the Sentz property<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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