County comments on pipeline incident

DA’s office to investigate ‘backfire’ in West Goshen

WEST CHESTER >> As part of its ongoing investigation, the Chester County District Attorney’s office will review Monday night’s loud boom that shook homes for a mile and a half. The boom emanated from pipeline infrastructure at Boot Road, near Route 202, in West Goshen Township.

Residents compared the boom to an explosion and said the blast rattled houses for six to seven seconds, while Sunoco/Energy Transfer released a statement referring to the noise as a “backfire.”

Several residents, groups and state Sen. Andy Dinniman said the official response was inade

quate.

Mike Murphy, Chester County Department of Emergency Services released a statement Wednesday: “The incident experienced by West Goshen residents living in close proximity to Sunoco LP’s Boot Road Station on Monday evening prompted four initial calls within two minutes to Chester County’s 9-1-1 Center. An additional 12 calls were received – four subsequent calls to the 9-1-1 Center and eight calls to the West Goshen Police Department.

“All of the 9-1-1 calls reported a loud ‘boom’ but confirmed that nothing was visible as part of an ‘explosion.’ Within 13 seconds of the first 9-1-1 call, West Goshen Police Dispatch had a unit assigned to the incident, and within minutes a West Goshen police officer arrived at the location where the first 9-1-1 call was made.

“The on-site investigation by West Goshen Police, and communication between West Goshen Police the Energy Transfer emergency call center confirmed that the significant noise was caused by a backfire on a flare. West Goshen Police reported this information to the Chester County Department of Emergency Services.

“At no time did the 9-1-1 Center receive any calls reporting any odors of gas, anyone who had difficulty breathing, any injuries or medical emergencies, any property damage or any other significant reasons for concern. Calls of that nature would have immediately prompted additional emergency response measures.

“Telecommunicators at the Chester County 9-1-1 Center always alert the appropriate first responders – police, fire or emergency medical services – based on the information received from the 9-1-1 caller. Those first responders are immediately dispatched to the location of the reported incident. Our first responders are highly trained to interview the party or parties at the incident site, and can determine what further actions, resources or investigations are required.

“The police officer sent to the location of the 9-1-1 callers was there to investigate the cause of the loud noise. There had been no report of any visual explosion to accompany the ‘boom’ and there had been no reports of an odor of gas. Nor was there any odor of gas when the police officer arrived.

“Based on all information provided by the 9-1-1 calls, the immediate investigation by West Goshen Police and the information provided by Energy Transfer both at the Boot Road Station and from the company’s emergency call center, Chester County’s emergency response actions were swift, evaluated the safety of the residents and went exactly to plan. There was no confusion on the part of the first responders. If there had ever been any threat at all to the safety of anyone in the vicinity of the Boot Road Station, we would have taken immediate action to address that threat. That is what we and our 5,000 first responders are trained to do every hour of every day of the year.”