Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gas Leak At PHS Poses No Threat

Possible disaster was averted after a gas line was drilled into at Prescott High School Wednesday, Jan. 6.

The school district, according to Superintendent Ron Wright, was having a utility pole installed in the parking lot so a light could be placed on it for better security at night.

A crew from the City of Prescott Street Department did the drilling, with the bit hitting a gas line.

Wright said a spot had been marked off where the drilling was to be done, but he didn't know who actually told the crew where to dig.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said it was his understanding representatives from Arkla Gas Co. made the mark.

"They (the district) were setting a pole for fiber optics to be ran for security," Taylor said. "We drilled where they wanted the pole and drilled where had been marked." But, the area marked is where the gas line was.

Wright said when the line was ruptured it sounded like a jet engine coming out of the ground.

"It happened during lunch hour at PHS," he said, "and could have been a catastrophe if it had blown."

However, the district's crisis management plan was put into effect and the campus was evacuated.

Crews from Arkla Gas were brought in and the pipe was then dug up and clamped off.

The utility pole was being erected between the home economics building and Prescott Elementary, with the idea to provide lighting for the parking lot.

School was closed for the day, but resumed the next morning.

Wright said Arkla had the gas line clamped off by 3 p.m. Wednesday, after being ruptured around 11:30 a.m.

Taylor said this type of thing happens more often than people think and is nothing new.

"We drilled where we were told by Arkla to my understanding," he said.

A representative from Arkla, though, said, the paint used to make the mark for drilling is not the kind Arkla uses.