PG&E pipeline test prompts calls
Testing will reportedly continue through July 23
It looked like a scene from a science fiction movie or a Burning Man sculpture: Huge flames shooting out of large metal structures clearly visible from Highway 101, prompting calls to the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority very early Tuesday morning.
UVFA Battalion Chief Justin Buckingham said firefighters responded to the 800 block of Kunzler Ranch Road around 3:30 a.m. July 13 for a report of “cubes on fire,” and found the flames were being generated by the testing Pacific Gas and Electric is performing on its gas pipeline from Healdsburg to Hopland.
“The excess gas is being burned off, but you can really only see it at night — during the day it just looks like heat waves,” said Buckingham, explaining that the UVFA was notified by PG&E earlier this month of the planned testing, though it came as a surprise to many people who witnessed the strange sight overnight. “It gets big and impressive at night; you could see the flames from the highway.”
Buckingham said PG&E was carefully monitoring the operations and had fire engines at the ready in case they were needed. He said the testing is expected to continue through July 19, and he was pleased with how the agency had notified his department of their plans.
More information on the testing was requested from PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras, who said that the agency “conducts safety inspections on both the internal and external portions of its gas transmission lines that include many processes and high-tech tools such as Mini Robots, cameras, pressure testing and In-line Inspections. These inspections are essential to the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas and are federally mandated.”
Contreras confirmed that PG&E was “inspecting 29 miles of a gas transmission line with an in-line inspection from Healds
burg up to Hopland,” and said the in-line inspections are completed with a robotic tool “known throughout the industry as a ‘smart pig,’ (which) is propelled within the pipeline by natural gas. They use a combination of GPS data, magnetic sensors, and other technology to examine the pipe and collect data, (looking) for any anomalies within the pipe that may need a direct assessment” such as corrosion or dents.
Conteras also explained that “PG&E brought in nine (five dual stack, four single stack) temporary enclosed combustion devices to our Masonite gas site north of Ukiah near Hollow Tree Creek Road to help propel the robotic ‘smart pig’ through the line. This helps create an increase in gas flow to help move the pigs through the line.”
She said testing of the devices began on Thursday, July 8, and “we started using them for the purposes of moving the smart pig through the line starting Sunday early morning, July 11. The combustion devices operate 24 hours a day, so if you are near the gas site at night, you might notice a glow coming from the top of the devices, which is the normal by-product of combustion.”
After engaging with local fire departments and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, Contreras said PG&E agreed on the following safety protocols:
Vegetation has been removed to bare mineral soil for four acres around where the combustors are being utilized. Additional surrounding vegetation has been mowed to one inch in length.
A type 1 engine is onsite 24 hours per day (a Type 1 is a “Fully Equipped Type 1 Municipal FIRE ENGINE”).
A PG&E Safety and Infrastructure Protection Team engine is onsite during burn operations.
Hydrants are available in several locations in and around the site.
No combustion will take place in Red Flag conditions or high winds.
Four water tenders are at the site.
She added that “barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect the testing to be completed by July 23, and the removal of the equipment shortly after.”