Pipeline fixed; gas outage ongoing

The ruptured pipeline that caused a widespread natural gas outage was fixed Thursday afternoon.

But the ordeal isn’t over.

Williams Companies, which owns and maintains the underground pipeline that was accidentally pierced by a landowner 4 miles north of Pullman on Wednesday, announced Thursday afternoon that the pipe had been repaired.

But that won’t mean immediate restoration of gas services to the more than 36,000 customers who have been affected. Avista Utilities, which provides the gas, must first purge the system, repressurize it, then relight gas appliances in a house-by-house process. The company said that will take an estimated three to five days.

“This is the largest natural gas outage in Avista’s history,” the company said on its Facebook page. “The restoration process involves many steps that will take time to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees.”

The first step is shutting down gas lines at all of the homes, businesses, schools and other buildings affected by the outage. Avista crews fanned out across the region early Thursday morning to tackle that job, and also provided customers with instructions to do it themselves.

Once that is done comes an even more daunting task: relighting the appliances at every affected building. Avista said that process could start as early as today, but didn’t provide a definitive timeline Thursday.

The relighting must be done by an Avista service person, not the customer, the company said. The worker must enter each home to do the relighting, but will only do so if an adult is present.

If no one is home, Avista will leave a card that asks the customer to call to arrange the service. There won’t be a cost, the company said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, people in Pullman, Moscow, Albion, Palouse, Uniontown, Colton, Genesee, Troy, Bovill, Deary, Asotin, Lewiston and Clarkston adjusted to life without gas-powered furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces and stoves. Most schools canceled classes, businesses and government services made adjustments and at least two entities — the city of Pullman and Latah County — declared a state of emergency.

Avista has scheduled a media briefing at 11 a.m. today at Pullman to discuss its efforts to restore gas services.

Landowner struck pipeline with plow

The natural gas pipeline known as the Lewiston Lateral was ruptured when a landowner pulling a plow through a field accidentally struck the underground pipe 4 miles north of Pullman, according to Scott Rukke, director of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

The landowner was installing a drainage pipe when the mishap occurred. The landowner hasn’t been named.

Rukke said it appears utility location services weren’t requested prior to the incident.

“They did not utilize 811. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to call 811 two days before you dig.”

In this case, Rukke said it is likely representatives from Williams, the company that owns and maintains the pipeline, would have insisted on being onsite during the work.

He said the plow tore a large diameter hole in the 12.75-inch steel pipeline that was 41 inches deep at the site of the rupture.

“It had adequate depth. The legal depth would probably be about 30 inches.”

The agency sent two investigators to the rupture site Wednesday. He said they are on their way back to the commission’s headquarters in Lacey, Wash., and will write a report on the incident.

Schools closed on account of outage

Most schools in the affected towns canceled classes Thursday and today.

Here are the details: Lewiston, school closed today and no school Monday because of an already scheduled in-service day; Clarkston, no school today in honor of Veterans Day; Asotin, no school today in honor of Veterans Day; Moscow, school closed today; Pullman, no school today in honor of Veterans Day; Genesee, school closed today, undetermined if there will be school Monday; Garfield-Palouse, school closed today in honor of Veterans Day; Lapwai, schools weren’t affected by power outages; Colton, no school today in honor of Veterans Day; Troy, schools closed today.

The University of Idaho campus was closed Thursday and today, along with nonessential offices. Lewis-Clark State College and Washington State University made adjustments and went ahead with classes Thursday and today.

Hospitals remain open, other entities closed

St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Gritman Medical Center in Moscow and Pullman Regional Hospital all announced on Facebook that they remain in operation, with some parts of their operations making do without heat.

In Moscow, the Latah County Courthouse, Latah County Annex and the Latah County DMV and Licensing office were closed Thursday because of the gas outage. They will also remain closed today in observance of Veterans Day.

The Moscow Police Department’s lobby on Southview Avenue was closed Thursday and will remain closed today. The department asks those who need immediate assistance to call 911 for emergencies or (208) 882-2677 for nonemergencies.

Pullman City Administrator Mike Urban said city buildings will be closed as many are without heat. He added programs have been postponed to a future date. Urban said though many buildings have closed, essential services remain operational.

Operations at the Nez Perce County Courthouse in Lewiston weren’t affected by the gas line rupture, but the Nez Perce County Jail is without heat, hot water and cooking methods. Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Rigney said they are using contingency plans to keep inmates warm, fed and clean.

Jail staff gave extra blankets to inmates for sleeping and they were already wearing winter clothing, which includes a warmer sweatshirt. For food, the cook is working with staff to provide sack lunches for meals. Inmates can take cold showers if they want to or the preferred method of using baby wipes to clean themselves.

Warming centers open on Palouse

These spaces have been opened as warming centers: Palouse Community Center, Palouse, is open and has heat; Latah Recovery Center, Moscow, is offering free beverages and has space heaters for warmth; Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, Moscow, has heat and will be open; and Albion Community Center, is open and has heat.

The town of Albion, Albion Food Pantry and Avista will be providing free hot meals today through Sunday. The meals will be served between 5-7 p.m. at the Albion Town Hall, 310 N. F St., in Albion. All meals can be eaten on site or taken to go.

Advice from the homeless

At the homeless encampment near the Clarkston Walmart, Dylan “Montana” Evenson, 31, offered some basic tips on staying warm without a heater.

“Dress in layers,” he said. “If you’re outside in a tent, double up your tents and use tarps, if possible. The best heat and light source for us are camping lanterns. We also burn candles and use a lot of hand warmers.”

Evenson and the people in the group have not been affected by the natural gas outage, but they sympathized with people who may be cold, especially at night.

Contributing to this report were the Tribune's Matt Baney, Eric Barker, Kerri Sandaine and Kaylee Brewster, as well as the Moscow-Pullman Daily News' Anthony Kuipers and Emily Pearce. The staff can be contacted at city@lmtribune.com.

Contributing to this report were the Lewiston Tribune's Matt Baney, Eric Barker, Kerri Sandaine and Kaylee Brewster, as well as the Daily News' Anthony Kuipers and Emily Pearce. The staff can be contacted at editor@dnews.com.