Chester to examine training PIO after gas leak incident
<span>The recent natural gas leak in Chester served as a wake-up call, in more ways than one, to city employees and department officials.</span>
<span>Chester Mayor Tom Page met with all agencies involved in the Aug. 16 incident on Aug. 19, which started when a power line in the 1500 block of Swanwick Street broke loose from a section joint and fell on top of a nearby street sign.</span>
<span>The live wire caused electricity to penetrate the ground and cause a rupture in the underground natural gas line, as well as igniting a nearby parked vehicle.</span>
<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert previously told the Herald Tribune between 50 and 60 homes were evacuated in a four-block radius around the affected area, as well as the shutting off of nearly 500 gas meters.</span>
<span>"I just wanted to talk about what happened," Page said. "What went well, what didn't and what we can do differently next time."</span>
<span>One of the significant outcomes of that meeting was the need for a public information officer (PIO) during emergency situations. </span>
<span>In regards to media requests, Page and Bert are generally considered contact persons when incidents occur.</span>
<span>"With Marty being the fire chief, he is tied up doing other things," Page said. "We need to look at training someone to be a PIO during a major incident.</span>
<span>"I still field a lot of the media questions, but even that time, I was somewhat consumed myself."</span>
<span>Page said he is in the process compiling overtime expenses and other costs associated with the gas leak. </span>
<span>Chester Gas Department worked until 11 p.m. on Saturday restoring service to customers before resuming the work at 8 a.m. the next day.</span>
<span>"I probably had 30 hours of overtime," said Chester Gas Department Superintendent Jeremy Homan. "We worked probably 12 hours on Sunday lighting people back up and throughout the day Monday, we spent about six hours lighting pilot lights."</span>
<span>Homan said there are different processes for restoring service to customers, depending on the type of residence.</span>
<span>"Every house is different," Homan said. "There are some houses where you turn the gas on and the appliances relight themselves and there are some houses where you have to relight every appliance.</span>
<span>"You're talking five minutes on one house and 20 minutes at another one."</span>
<span>Homan said he and James Brockmeyer are the two main people at the Chester Gas Department, with Josh Straight and Gary Rust trained to be on-call.</span>
<span>"We had a debriefing (with the city) and there were very few things we could have changed," Homan said. "I had no complaints."</span>
<span>Homan also said he supports the initiative to train a PIO during emergency situations.</span>
<span>"We want it to get to the point where Marty or myself don't have to leave the scene to talk to the press," he said.</span>
<span>In other city news, Page said the Chester City Council rejected a pair of bids for the Swanwick Street overlay project.</span>
<span>"(The bids) came in higher than appropriated," Page said. "I asked the council to skip that for the time being."</span>