The National Transportation Safety Board this week released a preliminary report addressing the BGE natural gas explosion that destroyed a Bel Air home on Aug. 11. The explosion killed the owner of the home, a BGE contractor and injured a second BGE contractor.
The NTSB, which regularly looks into incidents involving pipelines, is investigating the explosion. Their preliminary report sheds light on the timeline of events and what they’ve uncovered so far.
What happened
On the evening of Aug. 10, the home at 2300 Arthurs Woods Drive in Bel Air experienced an electrical power outage. A neighbor also called BGE and reported smelling gas as she went for a walk that evening.
Within a half-hour, BGE arrived to examine the home. At that time, they did not find a leak. However, a responding BGE technician reported the smell of gas to its electric dispatch operator and referred the repair to a contractor.
Shortly after 6:30 a.m. the next morning, the house exploded while two BGE contractors were working to resolve the issue. The homeowner, Ray Corkran Jr., 73, was found dead along with one of the BGE contractors, Jose Rodriguez-Alvarado, 35. The other contractor escaped the explosion with minor injuries.
A neighbor was also injured and at least 12 families were displaced due to the explosion.
What BGE found at the home
In an interview with the NTSB, a BGE worker said they smelled gas in front of the home at around 6:05 a.m. on Aug. 11.
Workers were providing natural gas and electrical services to the home with a natural gas distribution system nearby. The system consisted of a “1-1/4-inch diameter plastic main, installed in 2006, and a 1/2-inch diameter plastic service line, installed in 2007,” according to the preliminary report.
The operating pressure of the gas system at the time of the explosion was at “about 89 pounds per square inch gauge (psig), below the maximum allowable operating pressure,” the report said. Electrical service was supplied from three cables that were buried together with the gas pipe.
Before NTSB investigators arrived at the home, BGE tested the gas line pressure and found damaged electrical service cables and a plastic service line with a hole in the bottom. After the investigators arrived, BGE also detected gas underground around the house.
The NTSB examined the gas and electrical lines that were dug up after the explosion. They found that the gas and electric lines were about 3 to 15 inches apart, according to the preliminary report.
The report did not specify the exact reason for the gas leak. The NTSB stated the investigation is ongoing and will target “BGE’s construction practices, the process for recording and responding to odor complaints, and its pipeline safety management system, as well as other causal factors.”
BGE’s response
BGE released a statement Wednesday following the NTSB’s preliminary report, saying it’s “committed to reinforcing and improving our safety-first culture for our customers, employees, contractors, and entire service area.”
The company said it has also taken the following steps to enhance the safety, reliability and performance of its system and employees:
- Implemented refresher trainings reemphasizing proactive safety measures and gas and electric emergency processes.
- Reinforced our facility procedures with our craft employees and enhanced our process to ensure employees responding to issues at these locations can maintain the safety of the gas and electric systems.
- Increased oversight of emergency customer calls to the company.
WJZ is a media partner of The Baltimore Banner.
