Call Before You Dig With Your Backhoe!!!

SkyPup · Aug 28, 2009

OMG.......

http://fieldcomm.org/gk/article.php?story=20090203083645442

SkyPup · Aug 28, 2009

Apparently the server is over loaded, so here are the pics!

You probably know about the law requiring you to call for utility locating before you do any excavation. The pictures below are a result of a guy using a post hole digger with out calling for "locates" and he hit an underground cross country gas pipe.

This is what a high pressure gas main is capable of

Duffster · Aug 28, 2009

It wasn't a post hole digger.

Problems found near Appomattox blast site | Lynchburg News Advance

SkyPup · Aug 28, 2009

Wow, thanks for linking to the real story, the photos were posted on another site stating it was due to someone using a post hole digger, which obviously was false!

Still, I would NOT want to be responsible for that!

aczlan · Aug 28, 2009

This has been covered here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/safety/135809-call-before-you-dig.html

Apparently it was a rusted/corroded pipe, not a BH or PHD that caused the explosion.
Source: snopes.com: Call Before You Dig! - Gas Main Explosion

Aaron Z

Duffster · Aug 28, 2009

SkyPup said:
Wow, thanks for linking to the real story, the photos were posted on another site stating it was due to someone using a post hole digger, which obviously was false!

Still, I would NOT want to be responsible for that!

Sorry I didn't mean to rain on your parade.

SkyPup · Aug 28, 2009

No problem, I saw it reported on another site as a tractor backhoe incident and could hardly believe that, so I am grateful to you for pointing out the truth that I was not aware of....

KeithInSpace · Aug 28, 2009

Still makes for a pretty bad day...

BXinNH · Aug 28, 2009

Tractor Operator to Investigator: "Dude, I don't know, it was like that when I got here. I just figured I'd fill in the hole so no one would fall in."

Matt.

Willl · Aug 29, 2009

BXinNH said:
Tractor Operator

What tractor ?

BXinNH · Aug 30, 2009

The tractor that was running the BH or PHD that was initially alleged to be the cause of that little boo-boo.

Matt.

Willl · Aug 30, 2009

BXinNH said:
alleged

This is how 'old wives tales' start.

Reread the entire thread.

BXinNH · Aug 30, 2009

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story!

I did read and understand the whole thread, my initial reply was an apparently poor attempt at humor.

Matt.

Willl · Aug 30, 2009

Sorry, thought you were totally serious. You even had a smiley and I missed it completely.

Wis Bang · Sep 5, 2009

The Durham Woods Apartment Complex explosion in Edison, NJ many years ago was due to scratches on the gas line from a backhoe. The trench was back filled and the equipment was removed from the area for a few days b/4 the blast.

Charlesaf3 · Sep 5, 2009

Even better than call before you dig, don't buy land with high pressure gas lines on it!

I was going to say before I read all the way through, I can't believe those pipes were buried close enough to the surface for an auger to hit them - you'd think they should be waaay down

sandman2234 · Sep 6, 2009

Charlesaf3 said:
Even better than call before you dig, don't buy land with high pressure gas lines on it!

I was going to say before I read all the way through, I can't believe those pipes were buried close enough to the surface for an auger to hit them - you'd think they should be waaay down

Hypotheatical thoughts...
You would think that they "would bury them deep", but nobody told the guy with the new tractor and dozer that he bought with the money he saved on that little piece of heaven compared to one that didn't have an apparently unused "right of way" thru it. After he got thru with a weeks worth of leveling, the pipe is now inches below the surface instead of feet below it, and he now needs to build a barn with fencing around it for stalls. That would be where the tractor with the PHD comes into play. Just as he starts to lower the auger into the ground for that last post hole, he wonders where that alleged pipeline is running to.
Ever wonder what is buried on your property that has been forgoted?
David from jax

charlz · Sep 6, 2009

Absolutely amazing that nobody was killed.

sandman2234 · Sep 15, 2009

Charlesaf3 said:
Even better than call before you dig, don't buy land with high pressure gas lines on it!

I was going to say before I read all the way through, I can't believe those pipes were buried close enough to the surface for an auger to hit them - you'd think they should be waaay down

Does that mean I should discontinue my efforts to build a post hole auger extension for the post hole digger I don't own? I always thought it would be a good idea to have an extension laying around in case I ever needed one, but apparrently not as good of an idea as I first thought.(lol)
David from jax

powerstroke444e · Sep 22, 2009

I live next to a series of these lines and one of them went off 15 miles south of my house and it woke me up and you could see it burning. The pipe company flies over almost everyday to see what it looks like. My neighbor parked a bore rig near the line and 2 hrs latter pipe company showed up and asked what he was doing. I feel pipe company does a good job of watching but it still scares me a little as my house it just out side of the easmet which is 32'.