Catastrophe avoided at Marcellus well pad fire
A firefighter pours water on a burning gas well pad the evening of Feb. 4 in North Strabane Township.
A charred drilling rig stands at the scene where a well pad fire erupted the evening of Feb. 4 in North Strabane Township.
A catastrophe was avoided Feb. 4 when a large fire broke out at a Marcellus Shale natural gas well pad because the North Strabane Township drilling operation was only in the beginning stages, officials said.
“They were very fortunate last night,” state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman John Poister said Feb. 5.
The DEP was still attempting Feb. 5 to determine how much oil leaked from a hydraulic line and what caused the substance to catch fire at Range Resources’ Jeffries Elisabeth pad off Ross Road.
Regulators also were investigating to determine how much oil leaked from the ruptured line and what it was connected to on the pad, Poister said.
“We have a lot of work to do down there,” Poister said.
No one was injured in the fire that began about 5:45 p.m. and spread to plastic sheeting on the well pad at 257 Ross Road.
It was brought under control within an hour by firefighters using foam and water hauled by tanker trucks to the site from a nearby fire hydrant.
Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said there are many such hydraulic hoses at the location.
“I can say that the initial fire was small, and the workers attempted to extinguish it with a hand-held unit,” Pitzarella said.
“But the fluid discharged enough, the fire spread and eventually the spill liner ignited,” he said. “That’s why there was a lot of smoke. It would be similar to a tire burning.”
Washington County Public Safety Director Jeff Yates said a small amount of low-pressure natural gas was escaping at the time into the atmosphere at the site, and that it could have fueled some of the flames.
“The rig was on fire. A couple of trailers were on fire,” Yates said.
Township fire Chief Mark Grimm said the blaze destroyed the drilling rig.
He said he met with Range officials the afternoon of Feb. 5 to discuss the incident and response.
Range’s safety liaison for the township, Hugh White, also was with the chief and county public safety workers to help with the emergency at the command center, which was about 2,000 feet away from the center of the fire, Grimm said.
“It definitely was a concern for us from the start, but having a Range person there at the command post, we were confident there was nothing coming out of it,” Grimm said. “Our action plan was in effect, and that’s why you need to take time to (train) so when it does happen you’re not behind the eight ball.”
Range followed the proper protocol with the township in handling the emergency.
“The biggest issue was for the first few moments getting a water supply,” Grimm said on Feb. 5. “Once we did, we could take care of (the fire).”
Range recently started drilling at the location, Pitzarella said.
“There are shallow pockets of gas through the Earth’s strata, and we have connected a small burner unit to burn the gas. It operates occasionally as needed,” Pitzarella said.
“This is nothing whatsoever like what you might consider a typical flare or flare stack,” he said.
He said the Feb. 4 fire was the first that Range has encountered in the 10 years the Southpointe-based driller has been involved in shale development.
“We applaud area first responders and our crews for safely extinguishing the fire,” he said.
Grimm said firefighters were fortunate that the incident happened at the Ross Road well pad rather than the one located at A&S Landscaping near Route 19. The A&S well was the first in the township to be approved and is further along in the drilling process.
“We’d still be out there if that one was happening,” Grimm said.