By Bethany Bray
A gas main rupture that blew a six foot hole in Sweetbriar Lane last week, leaving 114 homes without gas service, remains under investigation as Andover State Rep. Barry Finegold has begun to pressure the Bay State Gas Company for answers.
Citing recent explosions in Somerset, Gloucester and Medford, said Finegold, chairman of the joint committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, wrote a Jan. 28 letter inviting Bay State Gas and area utilities to a Feb. 10 hearing "to inform the committee of why these leaks are occurring at such an alarming rate and what steps your company is taking to repair them."
The Sweetbriar Lane incident, which spewed natural gas and debris until gas service was shut off to the neighborhood, happened around noon on Tuesday, Jan. 26. No injuries were reported.
The high-pressure underground main was repaired that day, and gas service to all 114 homes was restored no later than 9:45 p.m., said Don DiNunno, Bay State Gas spokesman.
DiNunno said Bay State Gas "will absolutely participate" in the state's Feb. 10 hearing.
There are 19,000 miles of gas mains across Massachusetts and 1.3 million service lines going into homes and businesses, wrote Finegold. "It's crucial that we make sure that these pipes are being properly monitored and cared for," he wrote. "I, like many, have concerns over the age and condition of the pipeline infrastructure across the commonwealth and have advocated for the need of safety inspections that are necessary to detect them."
Bay State Gas is working with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to investigate the Jan. 26 rupture. DiNunno said he was unsure how soon a cause might be found.
"It's very rare that something like this will happen without outside intervention, like an excavator. That's when you commonly see a natural gas incident, when an excavator is digging in the ground," he said.
DiNunno did say the gas main's capped end was near where the rupture occurred. He emphasized that the incident was a release of natural gas with no ignition.
Andover has 7,400 natural gas customers, including 6,800 residential homes, said DiNunno. All natural gas mains and service lines running to homes are buried under streets, he said.
Department of Public Works Director Jack Petkus said he could not estimate how many high-pressure mains, like the one on Sweetbriar Lane, are in Andover.
"We have about 200 miles of streets, and I'd be surprised if gas covers half of that," said Petkus.
Last Tuesday, chunks of asphalt and dirt lay scattered around the street, blown several feet from the hole in Sweetbriar Lane. A slight smell of natural gas lingered through the afternoon.
Sweetbriar is a short residential street off Wild Rose Drive, behind the Korean United Methodist Church on Route 133.
Police remained on the scene through the night as Sweetbriar Lane was closed for repair. Lt. Commander James Hashem did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.
